The Influence of Ageism in Public Policy

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The Influence of Ageism in Public Policy

The United States is ill prepared to meet the needs of the aging baby boom generation. Nowhere is this more evident than in government policy, particularly in housing. Overall, American society has become complacent in the assumption that existing “programs enacted to provide older Americans with health insurance; nutritional, legal, supportive, and leisure services; housing; home repair; energy assistance; transportation; help in getting jobs; protection against getting fired from jobs; public insurance for employer-sponsored pensions, and special mental health programs” are sufficient to meet the needs of this nation’s seniors (Binstock, 2005, p. 73). Despite political rhetoric that touts services to the elderly as the last bastion of the American population subject to “Draconian budget cuts”, policymakers have consistently decreased funding to programs that assist older Americans, and have intentionally ignored discriminative practices that directly affect the quality of life for older adults (Gans, 2010). In fact, this student would argue that policymakers have made little more than a half-hearted effort to revisit existing programs benefitting older adults, especially in the areas of housing and employment. Even more troubling, is the clandestine acceptance of ageism in policy, and the tendency to view those programs directly benefitting older adults as “scapegoats for the budget deficit” according to Binstock (2005, p. 74). With the population of the elderly expected to swell to “68.5 million by 2050” (Folts and Yeatts, 1994, p. 6), policymakers and society will be compelled not only to reexamine those programs benefitting older adults, but to address the overall stigma attached with...

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...11 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/housing.pdf

Schroeder, P. (2008, February 5). HUD budget proposal features CDBG cuts, elimination of HOPE VI. Bond Buyer, 32. Retrieved April 23, 2011 from http://0-ehis.ebscohost.com.wncln.wncln.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=20&sid=363f40eb-521b-4cc7-b57f-17742d2a6738%40sessionmgr11

Travis, L. (2010, April). Protecting elderly homeowners: Reverse equity mortgages as a foreclosure intervention tool. Retrieved April 20, 2011 from http://academicarchive.snhu.edu/bitstream/handle/10474/1649/sced2010travis.pdf?sequence=2

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2010, July 14). The state of fair housing: Annual report on fair housing FY 2009, pp. 1-103. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved April 21, 2011 from http://www.hud.gov/content/releases/fy2009annual-rpt.pdf

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