This month, Governor Newsom signed an executive order to create a Master Plan for Aging by October 2020 -- the idea being that local governments as well as private institutions could use it as a guide to create healthy circumstances for getting older.

Experts have said that about half of the elderly in California cannot afford base level needs. Many seniors are on the hunt for jobs, there’s a shortage of caregivers in the state and in certain areas, seniors are the fastest growing population of the homeless. These are just a few of the issues that are being addressed by the working group which will take on the development of the plan.

We gather a panel of stakeholders to discuss the needs of the elderly in California, as well as the goals of the master plan and how it plans to achieve them.

We invited Governor Newsom as well as California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly to participate in our conversation, but they were not available for our discussion.

With guest host Kyle Stokes

Guests:

Amita Sharma, reporter for the California Dream collaboration covering wealth and poverty at KPBS, the San Diego NPR affiliate; she tweets @asharmakpbs

Michelle Faust-Raghavan, KPCC health care reporter; she tweets @MicheReports

Bruce A. Chernof, president and chief executive officer of The SCAN Foundation, an independent public charity based in Long Beach working to transform care for older adults; he has advised the Governor’s Office on the development of a Master Plan for Aging; he tweets @DrBruce_TSF

Donna Benton, research associate professor of gerontology at USC; she tweets @donnabentonphd