A vital community safety net for older adults in Fort Bend and Waller counties is facing a painful adjustment. Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels has announced it will reduce weekly home-delivered meals from seven to five starting January 1, 2026, in response to a dramatic reduction in federal funding under the Older Americans Act (OAA).
The nonprofit agency—serving the area’s most vulnerable seniors with hot meals, daily wellness checks, and social support—has been hit with more than a 50% cut in OAA funding for the coming fiscal year. The revised FY2026 budget, recently issued by the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), dropped from an originally proposed $1.77 million to just over $922,000, rolling funding levels back to what they were in 2018. The H-GAC serves as the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) for the region, administering OAA funds locally.
“This was an incredibly tough decision,” said Doug Simpson, Executive Director of Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels. “We are doing everything we can to preserve services for all the seniors currently depending on us. Reducing meals from seven to five per week allows us to continue serving everyone while we work to rebuild our funding base.”…