Dear Colleagues,
Today the Office of the Budget Director’s Research Division releases “Public Benefits Available to Seniors in the District of Columbia.” This report was produced at the request of Chairman Phil Mendelson.
The State of Older Adults in the District of Columbia is a multi-part series that explores the demographic and economic characteristics of the District’s senior population, considers the range of publicly provided benefits available to senior adults in the District and examines which D.C. seniors are eligible to enroll in these programs.
The second report provides an overview of the 90 publicly provided benefit programs available to D.C. seniors, the associated eligibility requirements, and the goals for each program. Its findings include:
67 public benefit programs require applicants to be a certain age, typically 60 or 65.
53 public benefit programs are means tested.
18 public benefit programs take an applicant’s medical needs into consideration when evaluating eligibility.
The public benefit programs are separated into 14 categories, with the nutrition category having the most programs, at 14.
The first report in this series analyzed the diverse backgrounds and experiences of the District’s 83,600 residents who are age 65 and older. The third report will examine which D.C. seniors are eligible to enroll in these programs.
All of the reports can be found on our website at https://www.dccouncilbudget.com/olderadultsindc.
As always, my team and I are available to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you for your assistance and support,
Jen Budoff