The Aging in Place Playbook: Turning Older-Adult Survey Data Into Action

Most local governments agree on the goal. Older residents should be able to stay in their homes and communities for as long as they choose. The harder question is where to start when staff time is tight, budgets are fixed, and the list of possible fixes is long.

In July, Polco's webinar Aging in Place: A Government Guide, Backed by Data laid out eight strategies communities can pursue, from walkability to housing. This article picks up where that session left off. It offers a practical framework for turning older-adult survey data into a plan your team can actually carry out.

The framework has five steps: listen, find the gaps, pull the levers that move several problems at once, build the coalition, and measure again.

Why a framework, not a wish list

The demographic shift is already here. By 2040, about one in five Americans will be 65 or older, up from about one in eight in 2000. Most communities were planned around young families and cars, not around residents who want to grow older where they live.

The challenges older adults face are also tightly linked. Housing costs strain household budgets. Giving up the car can lead to isolation. A resident who cannot find help with yard work may leave a home that otherwise suits them well. A framework helps you see those links and choose moves that pay off in more than one area.

Step 1: Start with what older adults report

Many aging plans begin with impressions from public hearings, advisory councils, or whoever calls city hall. Those voices matter, but they are rarely representative of the full older-adult population.

Virginia's Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) saw this firsthand. Its listening sessions kept drawing the same small group of people already connected to aging services. As Senior Policy Analyst Charlotte Arbogast put it, "We tend to hear from people when they are in a crisis." When DARS ran the Community Assessment Survey for Older Adults (CASOA), almost 9,000 older adults responded. That group was far more diverse than past sessions had reached.

CASOA asks older residents two kinds of questions. It asks them to rate their community, and it asks which problems they have actually faced in the past year. That pairing is what makes the data useful for planning. A low rating shows where the community falls short. A high problem rate shows how many people are affected.

Step 2: Find the gaps that matter in your community

National CASOA results, shared in Polco's July 2026 webinar, show where the gaps between community support and lived experience tend to be widest. Five areas stand out.

Information about services

Only 25% of older adults rate the availability of information about resources positively. Yet 75% report not knowing what services exist in their community.

Housing and home upkeep

Just 16% of older adults rate accessible housing positively. About 6 in 10 report trouble keeping up with their homes, from heavy housework to yard maintenance.

Financial security

About 2 in 10 older adults rate job opportunities for their age group positively. Nearly half report trouble affording daily expenses or property taxes in the past year.

Social connection

Fewer than half of older adults rate their community positively on neighborliness or places to gather. Meanwhile, 38% report feeling lonely or isolated.

Mental health

Only 20% of older adults rate the availability of affordable, quality mental health care positively. About 4 in 10 report problems with confusion, forgetfulness, or feeling depressed.

National numbers are a starting point, not a plan. Your community's results may look different, and the surprises are often the most valuable findings. In Virginia, CASOA showed far more need for home maintenance help, like snow removal and mowing, than for personal care. Those services are often overlooked when funding decisions are made. Benchmarking your results against peer communities shows whether a gap is typical or a local outlier that needs attention.

Step 3: Pull the levers that move several problems at once

Once you know your gaps, resist the urge to tackle all of them at once. Look for actions that address several needs at the same time. Three stand out in the data.

Make help easy to find. Three in four older adults report not knowing what services exist. One trusted entry point, plain-language materials, and navigators who make warm handoffs can connect residents to programs you already fund. It is often the lowest-cost move on the list.

Help with home upkeep. A missed lightbulb, an unmowed yard, or a fall from a ladder can push someone out of their home for good. Chore, repair, and home modification programs protect housing stability, physical safety, and household finances together.

Ease the cost of staying. Nearly half of older adults report trouble affording daily expenses or property taxes. Connecting eligible residents to property tax relief, utility assistance, and food programs helps people stay housed without building anything new.

Longer-term changes still matter. Zoning for accessory dwelling units, accessible housing design, and complete streets all shape whether a community works for older adults. The webinar recap covers them in detail. The goal is to pair early wins with structural change so residents see progress while bigger projects move forward.

When the options outnumber the budget, ask residents to weigh in on the tradeoffs. Prioritize lets older adults and their families select and rank the investments that matter most to them, so the final list reflects community priorities.

Step 4: Build the coalition and the funding case

No local government can do this alone, and federal aging funds do not stretch to cover housing. Area Agencies on Aging, health systems, nonprofits, faith communities, employers, and neighbors all have a part to play. Shared data gives every partner the same picture of the problem.

It also strengthens grant applications. Virginia DARS used CASOA findings in the needs statement for a HUD grant focused on home modifications for older homeowners in rural areas. Working with three regional aging agencies, the state won the grant. As Arbogast explained, "Home modifications and in-home services can be really crucial services that can keep people in the community."

Statewide data helped smaller partners, too. Many of Virginia's 25 Area Agencies on Aging are small and rural and could not have run a needs assessment on their own. Each now has local results to use in its own planning and grant writing.

Step 5: Measure again and report back

An aging plan is only as strong as its ability to show progress. Indiana's Division of Aging has run CASOA three times since 2013. Repeating the survey gave state leaders a long-term view of which measures improved, held steady, or declined. Since 2017, ratings for safety, sense of community, and ease of travel by car improved. Ratings for recreation, fitness, and public transportation dropped during the pandemic.

Trend data like this helps you test whether programs are working, adjust course, and show residents that their input led somewhere. Ongoing dashboards, like Polco's Track data for older adults, can fill in the picture between survey cycles.

Start where your residents are

Most older adults want to stay put. In Virginia, 73% of older residents said they planned to remain in their community during retirement. The question for local leaders is whether their community will be ready to support them.

The answer starts with listening. When you know what older residents are actually experiencing, you can choose the right first moves, build partnerships around shared evidence, and measure what changes over time.

Ready to hear from the older adults in your community? Request a Demo to see how CASOA turns resident input into a plan you can act on. Want to explore Polco's engagement tools first? Try Polco Free.