Demonstration Site Engagement: Covenant Care and Living


Landing the Vision:

Through iteration of an early concept, Covenant is currently attempting to build a vision of the older adults that will be served and the type of housing that will be built. Knowing their potential sites consist of the southeast Campus and Norquest sites, the organization has been exploring the feasibility of building different types of affordable housing for older adults, particularly a campus of care type of model. (Stages 2 & 3 of the Building with Mission Housing Development Framework)

Building with Mission Housing Development Framework

After several conversations with the Building With Mission working group, a particular tool was identified to help advance their work at this stage of development.:

 

I. Visioning

In July 2021, a team of five staff from Covenant Care and Living participated in a Visioning exercise.  Over the course of this session, six priorities emerged about potential housing on these sites:

  1. Integrated, coordinated accessible campus of care

    • Focus on transition services

    • Multi-generational community

    • Integration of innovation and technology to enhance lives of older adults

    • Being flexible to changing needs and wants of older adults

  2. Sustaining unmet need over the long term

    • Serving a range of income levels

    • Understanding affordability 

    • Defining criteria for who qualifies for affordable housing

    • Revenue generating to ensure sustainability and longevity

    • Establishing key performance indicators to assess if gaps are being addressed

  3. Creating a new normal for living for older adults and Covenant Living

    • Non-medicalized model of living

    • New direction/vision for Covenant Living

    • Be a popular choice for older adults

    • Be a leader in Alberta

    • Be known as a hub for trialing new innovation technology regarding aging in place 

  4. Feeling integrated into the existing community: Inclusivity and diversity

    • Sense of belonging and community 

    • Utilizing each site according to its cultural aspects 

    • Inclusive complex focused on entire community needs

    • Enhancing recreational services

  5. Support for staff and evolution of care

    • Understanding and addressing staff requirements

    • Incorporation of post-secondary space to support staff and future caregivers with learning/advancement opportunities

    • Identifying and modifying suitability of space

  6. Right care, right place, right time

    • Integration of services within building

    • Seamlessness between programs

    • Leveraging of existing services

    • Having flexible intakes

 

Next Steps

The Building with Mission project team and Covenant have maintained steady conversations about the visioning workshop and the ideas generated to help map out key next steps for their organization. They appreciate that further research, investigation, and exploration is needed to land a more robust vision of housing at their southeast Campus and Norquest sites. This will be part of their short term action plan, and to possibly utilize other methodologies employed and featured in the Building with Mission playbook.

Covenant has indicated a more clear direction that they would like to proceed in to address housing affordability for the communities that they serve. They have noted that it is imperative that they take a progressive approach to the experiential design of the housing development as they are in a position to provide services that embody technology, innovation, and integration of care.