Building an age- and disability-friendly Santa Monica
June 24, 2025 3:04 PM
by Alana Riemermann
The city of Santa Monica strives to be a welcoming, inclusive and accessible place for everyone. To ensure that Santa Monica is as age- and disability-friendly as possible, the city is creating its first Aging and Disability Action Plan.
In fall 2023, the city’s Housing and Human Services Department won a planning grant from the California Department of Aging to create an Aging and Disability Action Plan. With state funding secured, the city kicked off the project in summer 2024, retaining a team from Elizabeth Anderson Consulting and assembling the Action Plan Advisory Committee in fall 2024.
The Advisory Committee, consisting of older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers and subject matter experts, is steering the creation of the plan to ensure it is a community-driven process. To date, the Committee has adopted a set of values to guide their work, reviewed community demographics, and informed the design of the community needs assessment activities that occurred in spring 2025.
To ensure the Action Plan reflects community priorities, the needs assessment included the following activities to engage online, virtually, in-person, and in multiple languages:
- Community survey – 484 responses
- Open house – 50 attendees
- Community member focus group – 10 community member attendees
- Service provider focus group – 10 local professional attendees
The findings
From the study of community demographics, the committee identified that nearly one in five Santa Monica residents is over age 65, and nearly half of these residents are more than 75 years old.
More than a third live alone, and 18 percent speak limited English. While most older adults in Santa Monica identify as White, 30 percent are Latino, Asian, Black or other people of color.
Disabilities are common in later life – especially among women – with nearly 42 percent of residents over age 75 reporting at least one disability. Many are also caregivers – nearly one in four adults on the Westside supports a loved one.
Nearly 70 percent of survey respondents favorably rated Santa Monica as an age- and disability-friendly community.
However, ongoing conversations with members of the community have helped identify valuable insights into what is working and how the city can better serve the needs of this segment of its residents.
The needs assessment identified a great deal of alignment within the community on needs and priorities:
- Outdoor spaces and buildings: There is a need for well-maintained, accessible sidewalks, increased public restroom availability, improved lighting and inclusive design that supports people of all abilities.
- Transportation: The community would benefit from expanded and flexible options that accommodate diverse mobility needs, including on evenings and weekends.
- Housing: There is a growing demand for more affordable, accessible and diverse housing options that support residents to age in the community as their needs change.
- Social participation: Community members are seeking more culturally relevant, local and inclusive opportunities for connection to reduce isolation and foster community belonging.
- Respect and inclusion: There is a need to promote public awareness, including dementia-friendly practices, to ensure all individuals feel seen, respected and valued in community spaces.
- Civic engagement and employment: The community would benefit from increased access to flexible and meaningful volunteer and employment opportunities, as well as easier pathways to civic participation.
- Communication and information: To ensure everyone can stay informed and connected, clear, simple, multilingual, and accessible communication is needed across both digital and non-digital platforms.
- Health and community services: There is a need for more coordinated services, expanded access to in-home care, and increased support for caregivers to sustain their own health and independence as they care for others.
- Emergency preparedness: Community members would benefit from inclusive, easy-to-understand emergency preparedness resources – especially ones that do not rely solely on digital access.
Next steps
The Action Plan Advisory Committee is now weighing the most pressing issues and identifying achievable goals to accomplish over the next three years. The plan will be driven by the values of respect, participation, inclusiveness, joy in process, care and deep listening. The completed plan is set to go to the City Council for adoption this fall.
Learn more at santamonica.gov/aging-and-disability-action-plan.
Authored By
Alana Riemermann
Senior Human Services Analyst