Thread by @mateosfo

A couple weeks back I tweeted that the earth shook on housing policy. It was because of this - AARP has just signed on as a supporter of the #MoreHOMES Act, SB 50. I have a short thread on why I'm so psyched about this - and why I think it's a big deal.

https://twitter.com/AARPCA/status/1098251407961083906

For quite awhile now, there's been a measurable trend of older Americans moving back into city centers to enjoy urban life - the services, the entertainment, the walkability. It's a smart move for many reasons, one big one being:

Suburban isolation accelerates health problems.

The science on this is unequivocal: People who have more social interactions live longer and have fewer health problems later in life than people who live in isolation and have to travel far to have social interactions.

Science!
aginglifecarejournal.org/health-effects…

Compounding the problem is that, as people age, it's more dangerous and difficult for them to drive - for themselves, and for other road users. This is also science, but I know this personally from Berkeley, California - which is aging rapidly due to failure to build housing.

As the largest organization focused on empowering people to live how they want to live as they age, AARP is a natural ally for our urban infill project; technically, they were there first, with concepts like Aging in Place and Villages and so forth.

If cities like Berkeley had a little more foresight and were a little less beholden to anti-housing interests, they'd realize their downtown cores near transit are *the best places to build dense housing for aging people.* We're doing OK, but with SB 50, we could do even better.

Which is why AARP is going to be such a great partner to help us pass the #MoreHOMES Act: Their 3.3 million members in California are natural allies.

YIMBYs aren't just young techie renter millenials, folks. We are everywhere. And we just grew by quite a lot.