|
Chelsea Hayman, Deputy Director of Special Population Programs Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is on the Preparing Marylanders to Afford Longevity Work Group. Her experience with Maryland’s aging population compels her to get involved.
“I saw older adults living in poverty that had very limited family support, who were also providing for grandchildren and taking on all kinds of roles,” she said. “And the houses they had lived in for 30+ years were falling apart around them.”
When asked about the importance of government sectors working together to solve the many aspects of longevity readiness, she said, “It’s essential. You can’t really have a well-structured program for lower-income individuals if you're not ensuring that the different state agencies are coordinating on the different services they provide—together.”
Hayman speaks of the long-term potential of a well-defined MPA and why cross-sector collaboration is so important with the emerging trends in housing for this vulnerable population. “We have older adults who have disabilities, who have developmental disabilities, and are also in need of accessible units to live in,” she explains. “It's complex and it's also different from what we’ve encountered in the past. Some of these people would have formerly been in an institution and not living in the community.” While crediting DHCD Secretary Jacob Day as an innovator with “great vision and ideas,” she also explained that “we really work best when we’re working with our partners. Having those relationships is where that really helpful and strong policy work happens.”
In January, MDOA will share the Work Group’s recommendations with the public through a series of Town Hall meetings and solicit feedback from Maryland residents. By July 2025, the final plan will be published and implementation will begin. It will require legislation to support aging infrastructure, methods for achieving priorities, and monitoring to evaluate progress. Everyone is encouraged to participate.
In addition to the Work Group participation mandated by Gov. Moore’s Executive Order, LRM is also required to evaluate existing services and provide data-driven policies with measurable outcomes. MDOA, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Planning, is developing an innovative Data Dashboard that will assist with monitoring and evaluating progress. Scheduled for launch later this year, it will include detailed demographic data across all Maryland communities about employment, housing, health, and other determinants important to older adults.
“Having hard data about older Marylanders is crucial to recognizing gaps, predicting outcomes, and measuring the progress of the MPA. But it’s also a great tool for incentivizing support,” said MDOA Secretary Carmel Roques. “When we can show policymakers that the 50+ community in 2050 will contribute more than 43% toward the state’s overall economy, it demonstrates exactly why keeping Marylanders in Maryland as we age is a great investment.”
You can participate in Work Group meetings by reviewing the posted recordings of past events and leaving feedback in the comments. You can also attend scheduled meetings as they are live-streamed, with meeting schedules and live-stream links posted here, and leave your feedback in the meeting chat.
For more information on the value of an MPA, visit multisectorplanforaging.org.
| 
