Johnson signed the order before about 100 older adults at a South Side gathering. It establishes a Mayor’s Office on Aging to coordinate city services and improve residents’ access to them. The order also creates a working group to examine whether the city should re-establish a Department of Aging, which merged with the Department of Family and Support Services in 2009.

Johnson said he plans to include funding for an Office on Aging director in the budget proposal he is expected to present next week. He described a full department as a longer-term goal, saying the city could move toward one gradually, as it did with the Department of Environment.

The Senior Bill of Rights says older residents should have safe, sanitary and accessible housing, and receive information about city programs in accessible formats. It also affirms their right to organize and advocate on housing and other concerns without retaliation, and calls for ways to report problems to the city.

Ald. Jeannette Taylor, who introduced an ordinance for a Senior Bill of Rights last year, said older residents should not be left to navigate complicated systems alone. Caring for them, she said, is a responsibility rather than charity. Taylor credited years of advocacy by organizations including the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Access Living and People Matter.

Wilma Pittman, 64, an organizer with Northside Action for Justice, called the order a major step and said its signing made older residents feel safer and valued by the city.

More than 542,000 Chicagoans are at least 60 years old, representing about 19% of the city’s population, according to city officials. The new office is intended to bring city services into better coordination for a substantial share of Chicago residents; the executive order also begins a review of whether aging services should again have a standalone department.