Local and regional governments and age-friendly communities: a case study of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which cities, county departments of adult and aging services, county transportation authorities, and public transit agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area have in place age-friendly policies, programs, and infrastructure in the areas of community design, housing, transportation, health care and supportive services, and opportunities for community engagement. The most common age-friendly features include those that target alternative forms of mobility (for example, incentives for mixed-use neighborhoods and changes to improve the accessibility of public transit), while the least common policies and programs are those that aim to help older adults continue driving, such as driver education programs, driver assessment programs, and slow-moving vehicle ordinances. The article concludes with policy and research implications of these findings.