OPINION

Our opinion: Our senior year: City on right path to serve aging population

Tallahassee is positioning itself as a senior-friendly community, getting in front of state and national trends that will likely bring more Boomers and seniors to the capital city.

Florida has long been a retirement destination, but the Baby Boomers will be a game-changer for the state and the country.

Choose Tallahassee, a nonprofit supported by private and public funding, aims to promote the city as an ideal destination for Boomers and retirees looking for amenities such as health care, sporting and cultural events, volunteer opportunities and opportunities for lifelong education – things you find in a two-university town.

Choose Tallahassee’s target demographic is active Boomers and seniors who have years of independent living ahead. The Tallahassee Senior Center, for example, recently dropped its senior membership age to 50.

“It’s good for the community economically,” said Dave Bruns, Choose Tallahassee board chair and AARP communications manager. “There are about 18 to 20 million members of the Baby Boom generation who plan to relocate in retirement.”

Tapping into just a small percentage of those millions could make a big economic impact.

“Active seniors don’t tax the infrastructure, don’t cost a lot to serve, and yet they have disposable income,” City Commissioner Scott Maddox said. “They help the local economy, and are a valued addition to our city.”

Several studies have pointed to the need to prepare for an aging population. A 2015 report titled “Florida’s Aging Population, Critical Issues for Florida’s Future” was led by a team of researchers at Florida State University. The report, produced by the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy, stated Florida’s aging population is growing rapidly.

“While Florida’s population is expected to grow by almost 5.1 million between 2010 and 2030, Florida’s older population will account for most of Florida’s population growth, representing 55.2 percent of the gains in population,” the report stated.

And while Choose Tallahassee is targeting active adults, those same adults want to know they’ll have options for assisted living when they are older.

Ten new assisted living projects, eight in the city and two in Leon County, are under various stages of construction or review. If all of them move forward as proposed, they’ll add 1,235 units in assisted living space to Tallahassee’s inventory.

Choose Tallahassee has garnered wide community support from businesses, government entities and other agencies.

City Commissioner Gil Ziffer said during the commission’s annual retreat, that he’d like Tallahassee to become a more senior and dementia friendly community. He plans to bring more ideas to the commission on how to drum up ways to increase overall awareness, from the police officer on the beat to the drug store employee who encounters a confused customer suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

“If there is a market demand for more senior living, clearly we have far more people in that population or who will be moving here,” Ziffer said.

Tallahassee’s approach to attracting Boomers and seniors and preparing the resources they’ll need as they age appears to be on the right track. Attracting Boomers is a national competition, and the city needs a coordinated effort if it wants to capture even a small percentage of the market.

What the effort means for Tallahassee’s economy remains to be seen, but all signs indicate that there is a need to prepare for an influx of seniors and the resources they’ll need in the future.