Commission on Aging (COA) members listened to a transportation review about Newtown Easy Transit and discussed revisiting the topic of affordable housing in Newtown at their Monday, July 27 special meeting.

The COA was originally scheduled to meet on July 20. However, as Director of Human Services Natalie Griffith shared in her report, several people were out for vacations or other matters.

"We could have still held the meeting, but as you know, we wouldn't have been able to vote ... so thank you guys for being here and shifting your schedules," Griffith said.

She continued by saying she received an e-mail two weeks ago from Claire Cote, a field representative from the Bureau on Aging, with information on ADvancing States' 2026 Aging Summit Summary Report.

The event, held in late April of this year, was a convening of more than 220 leaders from 42 states and territories, federal agencies, national organizations, health plans, academia, philanthropy, and the private sector, united by a shared goal: ensuring readiness to meet the needs and aspirations of today's and tomorrow's older adults.

The report notes that every day, approximately 10,000 Americans turn 65 — a trend that will continue "for years to come." It also states that the population of older adults in America is projected to nearly double by 2060.

Griffith said the systems that were created to support older adults, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act, were designed more than 60 years ago, with a very different demographic reality.

"So it really is, I think, such a clear call to look at our systems. If people are living longer, their activities are different, the housing needs are different, transportation needs are different," Griffith said. "So, there's a wide-spread need to improve on the systems that we have to continue to meet this rapidly growing population in our country."

This reminded her of when COA member Michael Stern invited Lyn Kobsa, who has decades of experience with strategic planning in the Yale New Haven Health system and various nonprofit organizations, as a special guest speaker for the COA's meeting on June 24, 2024.

Stern worked with Kobsa as a fellow member of the United Way board and the group was going through its strategic planning.

At the meeting, Kobsa talked to everyone about ways to develop a strategic plan for senior services in Newtown. Griffith said they "dipped their toes" into doing some strategic planning for the COA, but decided to put that on hold until Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging published its strategic plan, which it has since done.

Between that and ADvancing States' 2026 Aging Summit Summary Report, Griffith thought they might revisit the conversation of looking to do some strategic planning for the COA, and for Newtown, in the fall and winter months.

Griffith gave an overview of her and Transportation Coordinator Jennifer Faircloth's presentation on Newtown Easy Transit, a pilot program that provides transportation to Newtown residents, to the Legislative Council (LC) at its meeting on July 15. The LC voted to accept the 5310 grant for the 2027-28 Fiscal Year to support the transportation program later that same meeting.

The LC showed a lot of support for senior transportation, though there were still concerns about the overall cost and burden to taxpayers, according to Griffith.

She then briefly went over some Newtown Easy Transit statistics since its launch in September of 2025. The program provided 39 rides in its first month of service and, ten months later in June of this year, provided 379 in that month alone.

Newtown Easy Transit also provided over 700 medical transportation trips, including over 200 dialysis trips. This includes transportation to specialized providers in New Haven, Ridgefield, and other communities not served through existing transportation options.

As of the week of July 13, Newtown Easy Transit had provided more than 2,092 rides to 80 unique riders, with a total of 134 residents registered to use the service thus far.

Griffith said this rapid growth reflects a service that the program's target audience, Newtown residents ages 60 and older, as well as disabled individuals over 18, need and have gone on to embrace.

To Griffith, being able to see residents out in the community who may have struggled to do so before has been an amazing feeling.

"The concern continues to be the cost per ride, and I feel there's still a lot of time while we're operating under these grants," Griffith said. "But with the growth in the program, as well as the system efficiencies that we've been able to put in place ... we're going to continue to see that number rise."

Friends of Newtown Seniors (FONS) board member Ned Simpson, who was in the audience, said a big point of interest at the last FONS board meeting was a senior discount.

He noted that a number of people have signed up for the next roundtable event in the hopes that they can frame what the senior discount will look like. The model, Simpson said, is inspired by the senior discount card in Darien, handled through the nonprofit organization At Home In Darien. Simpson plans to do a presentation on the town's senior discount card, but said "that doesn't mean [Newtown] has to do it this way."

COA member Jack Kitterman expressed his concerns with the cost of housing, specifically affordable housing. This comes after the COA discussed the topic at its June meeting; John Voket, director of Economic and Community Development, and Rob Sibley, director of Planning & Land Use, were invited to attend. However, Voket was unable to attend, and Sibley arrived late.

Sibley explained the role of the Planning & Zoning Commission and the Plan of Conservation and Development, and answered questions about accessory dwelling units and disinformation on social media. Sibley was invited to return to the COA for another meeting to answer additional questions.

Kitterman noted how different housing costs are from when he and his wife were looking for a house 52 years ago, and noted the condominium he purchased back then would cost much more now. While he acknowledged there are other factors going on that did not exist over 15 years ago, he said the affordable housing being offered nowadays is not affordable to most people, regardless of age group.

Griffith said they will invite Voket and Sibley to speak to the COA about affordable housing at its September meeting.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.