HOUSING NEEDS  

Housing risk is growing for many populations, notably older adults, due to an aging population, inadequate affordable housing supply and rising living costs. Limited public resources and high land values challenge affordable non-market and market rental solutions.

Older adult homelessness in B.C. has quadrupled in the past decade, and thousands of seniors living on the North Shore are at risk of homelessness. B.C.’s seniors’ population is growing. There is an urgent need to explore new, integrated approaches to affordable housing for seniors.

OLDER ADULT HOMEOWNERS OF SINGLE DETACHED HOMES  

More than half of single detached homes across Canada are occupied by one and two-person households. Older adults occupy a disproportionately large share of these single detached homes due to housing and demographic conditions such as: kids leaving home or a partner dying or moving to care home.

Older adult homeowners create secondary suites or accessory dwelling units (ADUs) at much lower rates than younger Canadians due to a range of barriers such as socio-cultural norms around living in a single detached home capacity to be a landlord at age 70+, real and perceived legal risks and relationship management with potential tenants.

This project’s primary goal is generating housing for those in greatest need by unlocking options for new housing units in single detached homes owned by low-income older adults. This project aims to better characterize barriers and develop a roadmap that contributes to integrated, systemic solutions. We will learn from collective knowledge on home sharing, secondary suites and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in older adults’ single detached homes.

This project supports the following National Housing Strategy priority areas:

• Supporting sustainable housing and communities
• Supporting a balanced supply of housing: More than half of all dwellings in Canada are single detached homes. Household occupancy is falling across all housing types, particularly in single detached homes. Gentle intensification of single-family neighbourhoods can increase the share of rental and home sharing units for smaller households. These solutions have applications in metropolitan centres, suburbs, small towns and rural areas.

1. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INCLUSION

This project will foster relationships among older adults to reduce social isolation and support economic inclusion and wellbeing. In the short term, the project will empower older adults to maintain independence while developing new relationships that benefit well-being and mental health. For example, homesharing facilitates shared expenses, affordable housing, companionship, safety and security, self-determination and independence for older adults. Service delivery will be incorporated into the program structure. In addition, homesharing solutions will help address social isolation and loneliness for solo older adults, which is particularly important given the disproportionate health impact the 2021 B.C. heat dome had on isolated people.

2. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY  

Our sustainability goals are:

REDUCED PER CAPITA GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) EMISSIONS ASSOCIATED WITH BUILDINGS

Single detached homes are the most greenhouse gas intensive dwelling type; doubling occupancy of a one-person household would result in the reduction of building greenhouse gases per capita by almost half. Using underutilized existing homes eases demand for new home construction and reduces urban sprawl – two major sources of GHG emissions.

REDUCED TRANSPORTATION COSTS AND CARBON EMISSIONS

Adding secondary suites or accessory dwelling units in mature single-family neighbourhoods has potential to cut transportation costs and carbon emissions, increasing walkability through proximity to key destinations and infrastructure.   Many of these neighbourhoods face reducing population as residents age and move to other areas.

3. AFFORDABILITY FOR OLDER ADULTS IN CORE HOUSING NEED

Thirty-nine percent of senior homeowners with mortgages are in core housing need in B.C. Twenty percent of B.C. seniors spend 30% of income or more on housing.

The 2011 North Shore Seniors at Risk of Homelessness Assessment found that “fixed income seniors who have been long-time residents of the North Shore are increasingly at risk of losing their housing as they face rising real estate costs, increases in rent, property taxes and changes to the Residential Tenancy Act. The number of seniors experiencing core housing needs has been steadily increasing.”

This project is exploring solutions such as how local non-profits that could manage and support secondary suites or home sharing arrangements for older adults while also generating revenue for homeowners.

This project can immediately generate new affordable housing alternatives for older adults. In the medium term, there is high potential for creating affordable housing units in Canada through good policy and program design. More than half of B.C.’s 830,000 single detached homes—and 7.5 million across Canada—have only one or two occupants, many of those older adults and empty nesters. Adding a secondary suite or a home share to just 10 percent of homes could create 85,000 new housing units in B.C. and 750,000 in Canada, increasing housing stock and revenue streams for homeowners.

4. REDUCED HOMELESSNESS

Older adult homelessness is rising due to lack of available and affordable housing. Innovative solutions to increasing inventory of affordable housing can reduce homelessness. For example, innovative new units on single detached land parcels, wrap around services , and mitigating home sharing issues.

5. CANADIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

Affordable housing supply is a major constraint on regional prosperity, with provincial and national implications. This project would contribute to regional housing supply, increasing discretionary income and supporting economic growth. Two older adults in a home sharing environment will reduce day to day living expenses, providing more money to spend in the community.

6. PARTNERSHIPS FOR MORE HOLISTIC RESPONSES

This project aims to build, strengthen and mobilize rich partnerships across the North Shore, Metro Vancouver and B.C. Scaling is a priority: the housing and demographic conditions that create this immense, untapped opportunity exist in many communities across B.C. and Canada, in cities, towns and rural areas.