Thank you. My statement will begin now.
In my research on seniors, I've had the privilege of studying how members of our aging population in Atlantic Canada view their homes and the challenges they face to continue living in them. The concept of a home is complex. It consists of many parts. To many, it is those simple rituals that link us with the sequences of the day and the patterns of time. These are the rituals that surround the gathering of food, cooking, washing, eating, sleeping, and cleaning, and connect us to almost all of humanity.
The meaning of home, of a protected refuge, is very often connected with comfort, relationships, family, relatives, friends, and all those traditions that give meaning to our lives. Yet we do very little to celebrate or pay tribute to these rituals that centre on and link us to that diverse, but collective, experience of home. This is borne out by the trauma people experience after a break-in, loss of home through a marital breakup or a natural disaster.
People experience both positive and negative emotions about their homes. For example, a place may be important psychologically because it has connections with the past, but it may also offer a poor physical environment that no longer meets a person's physical needs. This is a common experience for many older Atlantic Canadians. Perhaps the most difficult situation comes when an elderly person or couple is forced to move out of their home because they can no longer manage their physical surroundings. Research has shown that people facing a move see this change of environment and living circumstance as a major obstacle. In fact, only 12.6% of Atlantic seniors have even considered any plans to move, and all fear this change.
In terms of moving and changing homes, this fear relates to the seniors' attachment to where they have come from and to the impact that moving may have on their self-identity in relation to issues of belonging, permanence, and security. They feel they will lose control of their life if they move.
Overwhelmingly, our elders want to continue to live as long as possible in their current homes. If they must move, they want to remain in the community they know where they have a network of friends and neighbours so these connections are not lost.
What is making successful aging in place unlikely to happen for many Canadian seniors is that they live in older homes not designed for ease of movement and safety. This challenge is compounded when these homes are in rural communities where there are fewer options for moving to smaller, more appropriate, accommodations. We also know that much of our housing stock is older and not designed for accessibility for any age, particularly when walkers and wheelchairs become part of the equation.
We know that as our population ages, there are challenges with providing appropriate care in the home in our many small rural communities. We also know that if we made homes more accessible, people would be able to live in them longer, yet it seems we insist on acting like Peter Pan, building homes designed for people who will never grow old and never get sick.
Having our aging population remain in their homes and communities for as long as possible is important now, and it's going to be even more important in the future. As the cost of acute care in Canada grows, at already over $1,000 a day, and the number of bed spaces proportional to the growing demand diminishes, our society will be forced to find other solutions.
Another compelling factor is the pending shortage of trained staff to take care of a growing senior population. Despite these trends, the obvious solution for making it possible for Canadians to age in place is not being championed.
The first theme running through my research on successful aging in place is the need to focus on building a sense of community, reducing isolation, and giving the residents control of their everyday living. The friendship and community feeling is what sets apart emerging solutions occurring in other countries, such as co-housing, from typical Canadian seniors housing approaches.
The second theme is that every project incorporating the 16 standards developed by the Rowntree Foundation in the U.K. for the My Home Life project has been judged as having a significant impact on both the lives of seniors now and for future housing stock when and where it has been implemented.
Third, most seniors, nine in 10, are not actively thinking about alternatives to staying in their homes and are not prepared for unexpected life changes. Moreover, most seniors, eight in 10, are not aware of programs and services available to them. They are missing valuable assistance to help rehabilitate, repair, or restore their dwellings. Moreover, my research indicates that one in five Atlantic seniors spend approximately 40% of their income on where they live and that almost half of seniors in Atlantic Canada have an income of less than $30,000.
Part of our magical thinking about the future means that seniors don't plan for life changes and their impact. Most seniors are fully committed to staying in their homes and aging in place as long as they can. In Canada, this is 93% of seniors. In fact, couples often develop compensating skills and abilities that allow them to remain independent by exercising interdependence, but when one of them dies or is institutionalized, it can become increasingly difficult to maintain independence in the community.
Physical solutions, such as attaching grab bars, widening doors, and making behavioural adjustments, such as sleeping downstairs in a two-storey house or taking a sponge bath rather than a tub bath, are common lifestyle adjustments older people employ. Although many home modifications are not without cost, they are often one-time only expenses, beyond the reach of most Canadian seniors.
There are four possible solutions. The first would be a program of education aimed at those over age 70, those under 70, and Canadian home builders and contractors to help them prepare for home changes and modifications.
The second action would be to initiate a national program of home accessibility tax credits for eligible home accessibility expenditures for work performed or equipment installed. The temporary credit would provide an immediate incentive for Canadians to undertake new renovations or to accelerate planned projects.
The third action would be to support a CMHC demonstration project that proved the viability of modern technology to encourage people to age in place safely.
In addition to these three major actions, I would like to have a home accessibility audit program that would certify a home built to lifetime home standards. I would like to see Canadian building codes changed so that the 16 standards of the lifetime home standards were compulsory for all new residential home construction in Canada. Homes could be certified by inspectors drawn from the senior population.
In conclusion, seniors overwhelmingly want to age in their homes and their communities, but this is unlikely to happen. Without action today, our housing stock will only continue to be less suitable for aging in place, and future generations will face the same challenges we do now. As our population ages, the cost of current solutions will only escalate unless we act now to make changes that will encourage and support staying safely in one's home for as long as possible. Thank you.