Unprecedented growth among Canada's senior population will mean shift in housing needs: experts

Canada’s senior population is projected to see unprecedented growth in the coming decades, and experts say new housing strategies are badly needed, including improving and expanding support for those who choose to grow old at home, and rethinking how entire neighbourhoods are built.

The national population aged 65 and older, accounting for roughly 19 per cent of the population in 2021, is projected to reach between 22 and 30 per cent by 2068, according to Statistics Canada – an unprecedented shift that will bring major changes to the needs of Canadians.

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“We started writing about this issue back in the 1990s … unfortunately, our politicians still seem to be surprised by this,” said Mark Rosenberg, a Canada Research Chair in development studies, in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.

“I don't think we should ignore the fact that the older population is going to need alternatives with respect to different forms of housing.”

New statistics from Environics Analytics, a marketing and analytical services company owned by Bell Canada, show the country’s senior population is projected to surpass 11 million by 2043. The data, based on a special analysis for CTV News, paints the senior population as the fastest-growing age group in the country.

Close to half of Canadian seniors live with a partner, while one in three women and one in five men aged 65 and older live alone. Additionally, 18 per cent of women and 17 per cent of men live with their children or in a multi-generational household, according to 2021 census data from Statistics Canada.

As seniors age, these numbers are projected to shift dramatically, according to Environics data. Roughly half of Canadian women aged 65 to 74 lived with a partner as of the most recent census, but by age 85, that proportion dropped to 16 per cent, while the proportion of those who live alone rose to 53 per cent, up from 26 per cent.

Approximately seven per cent of all seniors, including nearly one in three Canadians aged 85 or older, were living in a collective dwelling such as a nursing or long-term care home, according to StatCan data. But the majority of older Canadians don't live in these types of settings.

“Communities need to change, and need to be made much more age-friendly,” Doug Norris, chief demographer at Environics Analytics, told CTVNews.ca in a video interview.

AGING WITH OPTIONS

As more Canadians feel the health and lifestyle impacts of aging, demand for everything from nursing homes to supports for aging in place are primed to rise, according to experts.

The challenge, Rosenberg said, is to build a an alternative housing model that's adaptable to seniors' needs as their requirements change over time. Too often, inefficiencies arise when seniors find themselves with either too much or too little support in their daily lives.

“There comes a point for … many older people, where their house is no longer suitable,” Rosenberg said. “There are older people who no longer can, essentially, live on their own, but … they’re not bedridden; they don’t need to be in a nursing home with 24-hour care. What they need are alternative housing models.”

Multi-person living spaces with communal dining rooms, retrofitting homes to help with mobility issues and even entire neighbourhoods built with seniors in mind are among the initiatives suggested by experts to bridge the middle ground between aging in place and receiving round-the-clock care.

The benefits, said Rosenberg, can spread far beyond housing itself.

“We have older people in the hospital who … really don’t need to be in hospitals, but there just simply are not the places and services for them in the community,” he said. “If we can create these alternatives within the community, that, too, would free up resources within our hospitals.”

GLOBAL MODELS TO FOLLOW

Experts suggest that Canada look abroad for inspiration; especially to countries with comparatively older populations.

Since the late 1980s, countries including Finland, Sweden and Norway have increasingly embraced the Danish model of “bofællesskab,” or co-housing; a style of purpose-built communities that offer residents, including seniors, private apartments alongside a suite of amenities including recreation facilities, shared weekly meals and home-care support services.

Research on older co-housing residents revealed high rates of satisfaction, highlighting closer social ties, mutual support and a greater sense of security as key benefits. Respondents to a 2020 Norwegian study also noted that these housing arrangements provided older residents with “the opportunity to manage themselves longer,” according to a paper published last year in The Evolving Scholar.

Similar models to co-housing can be found in Japan, where 29 per cent of residents are aged 65 or older as of last year.

“Gurūpu ribingu,” or “group living” communities modify the Nordic model by focusing on privacy and independence, but offer supports for aging residents through networks of external volunteers and professional care workers. The communities are limited to seniors only, but residents typically aren’t in need of care when they first arrive, instead transitioning into more comprehensive supports as their needs evolve.

MEETING SENIORS WHERE THEY ARE

But entirely new neighbourhoods won’t meet every senior’s needs, experts stress.

“For some people, communal housing will become more important, but for most Canadians, they’re going to age in place, at home,” said Mary Ann Murphy, an associate professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia, in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.

“That raises health-care issues of providing far superior home-care than we’re providing right now.”

In her home city of Kelowna and across the country, Murphy points to Abbeyfield Canada as an example of an organization that has explored alternative housing solutions. The charitable organization offers specialized residences with a typical occupancy of up to 14 seniors, complete with private accommodations, shared meals and a live-in housekeeper.

“It’s a very normalized model of living in community,” Murphy said of arrangements such as Abbeyfield’s.

“One of the things that I would like to see younger people in business and real estate development start thinking about is, first of all, getting educated about the older population, understanding the potential diversity of needs … then to think about: How can we adapt this market?”

Aging in Canada

• Part One: Senior Snapshot
• Part Two: Health Care in High Demand
• Part Three: Workforce Gaps Grow
• Part Four: Re-Evaluating Living Arrangements
• Part Five: Cultural Diversity

Researchers at the Women’s Age Lab in Toronto are examining ways to accommodate seniors by introducing support services to communities and apartment buildings that already have a large proportion of older residents, known as Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities, or NORCs.

A recent analysis by the University Health Network identified 1,941 residential buildings that qualified as NORCs in Ontario alone, together housing more than 200,000 seniors.

The benefits of installing supports in these communities, as described by the Council on Aging of Ottawa, range from combating social isolation to saving on care services and delaying or alleviating demand for long-term care.

“Age-friendly housing options are required now and for the foreseeable future to address population aging,” read a statement released in February by then-council president Alex Roussakis. “To meet this challenge, additional investments and measures are essential.”

CTV News is a division of Bell Media, which is part of BCE Inc.

Edited by CTVNews.ca Special Projects Producer Phil Hahn