Evidence of meeting #70 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was hospice.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
Oh, yes.
I want to be clear too about co-housing. It's actually adults living in independent units. The co-housing model looks more like a condo strata, but that doesn't mean we can't implement those kinds of principles in a rooming house or shared accommodation model.
There are models—
Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
That's okay.
Liberal
Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON
The implication there is also that seniors who have means can purchase and acquire the property. For those on social assistance or a fixed income or those whose pension is compromised, what are your thoughts on the idea, which has been expressed by many advocates, particularly in B.C., of a portable housing benefit and how it might be used to facilitate giving seniors the choice of moving into those areas? Would you support a portable housing benefit?
Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
I absolutely would. What's really great about that model is that the benefit travels with that senior, so there are opportunities for them to remain in their community, which is what we want.
Liberal
Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON
Glenn Miller, you talked about proactive design. We have very few standards on...not accessible units, but universally designed units, because accessibility for seniors involves more than mobility devices. If your vision is impaired or if you're intellectually impaired, assisted housing or adaptive housing requires more than simply ramps and high toilets.
In considering the best practices around the world, what universal design thresholds would you advocate to encourage housing to be built proactively before people age? What would you see as a valuable contribution to a national housing strategy on that front to assist seniors?
Senior Associate, Canadian Urban Institute
That is a complex question. I think the important thing is to find ways to engage the development industry. The scale of the demographic shift today is so significant that we can't rely on the traditional methods. If everybody is going to go towards spending time in long-term care or that kind of facility, it's going to bankrupt the provincial governments.
Liberal
Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON
For example, they could get CMHC assistance with their mortgage as part of a private development, or programs could be put in place to spur rental housing. There could be support for the granting of land as part of a big housing project that was once federal, or a requirement that developers attain a certain threshold in keeping with public-private partnerships. We could have a universal design to accommodate seniors before they age so that it would be there when they need it.
Senior Associate, Canadian Urban Institute
Yes, I think that's an excellent idea. Building codes can also play a role, as well as education in the development industry. We've actually done quite a lot of work to find out what the appetite is for responding to this kind of initiative in the development industry. Right now there isn't a lot of understanding of the opportunity.
Liberal
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you, and thank you all so much for being here.
I'd like to start by asking a question and having each of you answer yes, no, or abstain. I'd like to ask all the witnesses if they believe the government should implement a national seniors strategy.
Associate Professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
Yes.
Associate Professor, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
Yes, absolutely.
Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
Yes.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Marika, you talked a lot about co-housing. Should the CMHC review and create incentives for co-housing, and perhaps increase funding? Do you know if this is happening, and if not, do you know why?
Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
I don't know if CMHC is doing anything like that. I know there has been talk about improving incentives and funding for rental housing, but I don't know what there is specifically for co-housing, so I can't answer that part of the question.
Any support for these kinds of developments would be most welcome and would be very beneficial to communities. There are opportunities for co-housing and for public-private partnerships. I definitely know of at least one or two local developers who would be interested in working on a co-housing project.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Co-housing represents a conceptual shift in our cultural approach to aging and living in the community. How do you think we can encourage this shift? Are the challenges mostly financial at this point?
Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
There are certainly financial challenges, but I think you're right. We do need to have a cultural shift. The Canadian seniors co-housing network does community workshops around how we shift our thinking into thinking more about living collectively or sharing our resources more and in different ways. There is a bit of a cultural shift that needs to happen.
Colleagues at the Canadian seniors co-housing network talk about how their generation of hippies talked about sharing and living co-operatively. Now it's their turn to do that again and share that kind of cultural shift again. That's how they talked about it.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you.
We know that one barrier facing the seniors population is the high cost of real estate. I'm curious to know if you have looked at the community land trust process. It's yes or no; if you haven't, then we can let it go.
Executive Director, Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
It has been a conversation locally. The regional government is looking into the possibility of doing that, but we don't have anything in place at this point here in the capital region.
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Okay. Thank you so much for your time.
Glenn, I'm going next to you. Have age-friendly communities become a mainstream planning model? Should they be? If so, what's the role of the federal government in expanding them?
Senior Associate, Canadian Urban Institute
As I mentioned, the concept of age-friendly communities is quite widespread across the country in cities large and small. It's being used as an engagement tool. It's been developed as an engagement tool by the World Health Organization.
It wasn't designed to fit with our planning process. I've published a paper on this very topic, which is how you get the philosophy of age-friendly communities embedded into the land use development process so that it's easier for municipalities to implement it.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
The community of Alert Bay is in my riding. It was one of the 10 communities that participated in focus groups that helped develop “Age-Friendly Rural and Remote Communities: A Guide”. How do we incorporate such a guide into a national seniors strategy?
