IV/ A Greater Range and Supply for Everyone
System Alignment Demanding Better for Seniors
New Incentives & Business Models Rethinking the Housing + Care Options
This scenario imagines a future where policy alignment makes it easier to develop new seniors housing and care models and where seniors’ needs and preferences are a priority for government and the private sector.
It also imagines a future where new players have entered the seniors housing and care landscape and where there is public sector interest and support for a broader range of age-friendly offerings.
Housing: Where do older adults live and how is it paid for?
Senior living transformed:
Truly transformation projects have been developed and scaled in a timely manner across the country through a combination of publicly funded incentives and private investment transforming the seniors living sector.
Ample and diverse housing stock:
There are a variety of housing options for older adults of all income levels that serve a variety of needs—most people can find housing that really works for them when they need it.
Continuous Learning:
Research has helped policy makers and practitioners identify what it is about each model that works well for different needs, enabling greater focus on how and where to scale.
Care: Who delivers care and how is it paid for?
Right sized care funding:
The federal government made a major $10B investment in home care after the 2020 pandemic - a “fix for a generation”. Publicly funded community based health services are now right-sized with our OECD peers in terms of including high levels of home care so that older adults who want to age (and even die) at home can have the care they need where and when they need it.
Institutional options rise to the occasion:
For those that do want or need to move into a care facility, care is provided in a variety of different settings, most of which focus on ensuring a warm caregiving community where clinical needs are prioritized equally with social and emotional needs. Facilities are maximized for modularity and care adaptability so that residents do not have to move from place to place as their needs change.
National standards:
National standards around what good quality care for older adults looks like ensures that there is a relatively consistent standard of care in different settings across the country (e.g. dementia villages, clustered care homes, long term care homes and long term care at home options, etc.).
Aging adults’ experiences: How are older adults doing and how different are their experiences across the country?
Greater consistency:
There has been a significant investment in expanding care options for older adults with a focus on quality of life. Standards are now very consistent across the country for most segments of the population.
Greater autonomy and choice:
Older adults are able to find the care and housing that they need and want and have significantly more autonomy in charting an aging journey that meets their expectations and wishes.
Identity of aging: How are older adults valued or perceived?
Dignity and agency:
There has been a major shift in the national consciousness around ensuring dignity and agency for all older adults. Many remark that it is similar to how the country rallied around youth as the Baby Boomers became school aged.
Representation:
We see older adults proactively included in far more aspects of life - they are more represented in civic life than ever before and their influence is evident.
Longevity economy flourishes:
Corporate Canada has gone all in to cater to the needs of this demographic - from financial products to teleco packages to smart home technology integrations that are designed to meet the many different ages and stages of later life. While many products were initially designed to serve older adults, they are often wildly popular for many other people in the general population.
Policy: How does government work?
Alignment:
There is widespread political and societal support and alignment across all levels of government creating momentum for new solutions, greater investment and focus on a new kind of aging.
Essential workers matter:
The essential economy has been transformed as a result of the 2020 pandemic. Health workers in community and seniors care have achieved wage and benefit parity with their hospital and the private sector peers.
Streamlined affordable housing process:
There has been a huge coordinated effort to streamline the process for building affordable housing, especially affordable housing for vulnerable populations like older adults. This has resulted in many new projects being built all across the country enabling older adults to live in suitable and affordable homes.
Collective movement:
Anchored by a suite of tax credits and new personal budgets for older adults that put money directly into the hands of seniors (instead of flowing capital through health systems), a national strategy set out the expectation that all levels of government and all sectors prioritize aging. There has been remarkable coordination and cooperation. A collective movement has emerged where we all work to make Canada the best place in the world to grow older.
A Day in the Life
I remember when people became so hesitant about moving into any kind of “seniors” home or assisted living community after the 2020 pandemic. It felt wrong - sort of like what I imagine it felt like to send someone with mental illness to a sanitorium. But there also weren’t great alternatives. I remember stories of older adults having minimal support in the community so their only option was to be warehoused; the health workforce was so short-staffed, underpaid and unappreciated there wasn’t enough care available and when it was available it was impossible to coordinate; too many people had to pay more than half of their income each month just for an appropriate roof over their head.
I’m so happy that those days are behind us. I’m really enjoying the new community I’ve recently moved to. I wanted to get out of my two story home and find something a little more affordable and so I started to look around and there were a lot of options. My health hasn’t been great so I wanted to find somewhere that made it easy to attend to my health needs while also providing me with a more accessible apartment and a welcoming community. I found just what I was looking for downtown.
The staff here seem to really know everyone well and can help with anything you need from meal prep to healthcare. I think the new Board of Directors really helps. There are three seats on the Board held permanently for residents elected by the community. It’s nice to have representation and I understand that this model has been replicated in most residences across the province, which is good news. The Board is also very focused on establishing community partnerships - especially with local universities and the technology sector. It seems like new pilots are launched every few months to address issues, try new ways of doing things or streamline processes that just don’t make sense anymore. I love the projects that let me try the latest and greatest technologies before anyone else.
And my community has done a fantastic job welcoming me. I think this is in large part due to the welcome program we have. New community members, such as myself, are included in a community circle made up of a few residents who have lived in the community for a while and a support worker. I go to my circle whenever I have questions about how the community functions: the democratic processes, the clubs, the health supports, community outreach programs, mentorship options, and courses available.
Our building shares common spaces with the building next door that is full of families — I love strolling along the outdoor walking loop and watching the young parents and their toddlers play in the little splash pad. I’m thinking I may even offer to teach a community class teaching parents how to read to their pre-schoolers and put my old kindergarten teacher skills to good work again. I feel like I’m part of something bigger than myself, where I have a say and where I’ll be supported when I need it. It’s nice.
