PLACENTIA, Calif. — In the coming decades, California expects its senior population to skyrocket, with Orange County anticipating a population of nearly 1 million people older than 65 over the next 40 years.

What You Need To Know

  • Placentia plans to build a senior center on county land at Tri-City Regional Park

  • The city will foot the building costs, while the county provides a $1 lease

  • The center is part of a broader strategy by the county to manage a growing senior population before it grows too large

  • Orange County currently has 554,696 seniors

The county is already taking steps to prepare, just recently signing an agreement with the city of Placentia to build a senior center for a leasing fee of only $1 per year.

“I’m really excited to see if we can make it a really special place,” said OC Board of Supervisors’ Chairman Doug Chaffee.

The lease is for 75 years at the regional Tri-City Regional Park. Chaffee said the county hopes it can have offices in the building to help enroll seniors into other services they might need.

That strategy dovetails with state plans to manage the growing senior population. In a series of five goals published by the state, the strategy includes housing, health care and 1 million high-quality care-giving jobs — all by 2030.

Other ambitious plans from Sacramento have stalled or been slow to arrive. Gov. Gavin Newsom had, on the 2019 gubernatorial campaign trail, promised to lower prescription drug prices. Those plans included in-state insulin production and a massive negotiating apparatus to lower drug prices leveraging state dollars across all counties along with partners in other states.

Those plans have not yet been fulfilled.

That leaves the question of what aid Orange County can expect in the future partly open. Chaffee expects there to be future grants to help with the infrastructure side of the equation but said there’s time for specific funding sources to materialize.  

Money has also flowed from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, with about $1.4 billion released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in May 2021. That money helped get a variety of services like meal programs back and running. But it also gave some states the chance to expand health care for seniors under Medicare.

Orange County will need the help. It is home to 554,696 seniors, and the county estimates there will be a 65% increase in the next 40 years.

The county already has a range of plans to provide and support them that include social services programs like state-sponsored SNAP. That assistance and more will ideally be available in the building once it is finished.

The senior center, Chaffee said, is more than just about getting older residents help for ailments or other aid. It’s also about curing loneliness. Early plans include activity space for all ages, a conscious effort to avoid isolating older visitors.

“We’ve had some success already, just not enough because the aging process is growing so rapidly,” he said.