New Age[ing]: Small-Scale, Collective, Grassroots Models of Housing for Older Adults

Abstract

The elder care system in Ontario is largely failing older adults. Older adults want to age at home, yet public home care systems are underfunded and limited in scope and only 2% of users can meet their care needs without informal caregiving. Subsequently, many older adults spend their last years in collective care, a model which in Ontario is characterized by large-scale facilities, where autonomy and individuality is constrained. Despite findings that 96% of seniors will do "everything they can'' to avoid institutional care, this model receives 87% of government funding. Within this context, new, ground-up models of elder care are needed. This thesis explores a small-scale, collective, grassroots model which draws from coliving and cohousing typologies. It centers older adults as decision-makers and uses an approach of collective organization to create a sustainable and holistic model for aging-in-place SECTION I : OLD AGING An Overview of Elder Care in Canada "Are we really going to end up like this?"