Subsidized housing for francophone seniors in minority situations

La version française de ce billet se trouve ici.

About a year ago, Joel Belliveau and I wrote a report about the feasibility of more subsidized rental housing for francophone seniors in minority situations in Canada (the final report, available in French only, is available here). This project was commissioned by the Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada and funded by the Community Housing Transformation Centre.

Here are 10 things to know:

1. Seniors are projected to grow as a percentage of Canada’s population. This has to do with both the baby boom and the fact that people in general are living longer. The phenomenon, which affects all OECD countries, is sometimes known as the ‘grey tsunami’ or ‘silver tsunami.’

2. Older persons often have physical mobility challenges, meaning they require accessible housing. A person who uses a wheelchair, scooter or walker may require wide doors, a large bathroom, grab bars and an accessible kitchen. They may also need a smooth entranceway into their building.

3. Many older persons do not require long-term care, but do require various forms of support to live independently. Such support may include assistance with cleaning their unit, transportation, food, technology, dressing, bathing, and medication administration. These needs will vary considerably from one tenant to another.

4. It’s important that tenants have the option of having such services delivered in their mother tongue. One reason for this is that people experience cognitive decline as they age, making it increasingly difficult for them to communicate in a second or third language.

5. Location matters. As part of this exercise, we commissioned a survey. Most older persons who responded to it expressed strong interest in remaining in their own community—where they have friends, family and community supports. Among other things, this means it’s important to create affordable housing in specific neighbourhoods and communities (rather than insist that older persons simply move to a community where there is an available unit).

6. There are various types of models that work. In some cases, a stand-alone building can be constructed where all tenants are from the same demographic (in this case, francophone seniors in minority situations). In other cases, there can be clusters of smaller buildings located on the same patch of land. And in other cases, some of the units can be higher-support (even long-term care) beds, while other units in the same building can be for more independent seniors.

7. The right kind of partnerships matter. If a group wants to create new housing for francophone seniors in minority situations, they might reach out to an existing provider of non-profit or co-op housing. That provider may already be familiar with how to develop housing and manage the risk. Meanwhile, the group with the linguistic focus could operate the units and arrange social work supports.

8. Unfortunately, funding for new housing in Canada usually requires a patchwork of funders. Five to 10 funding sources might be needed for each capital project. One source would likely be municipal. Another would be the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). There may also be funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities—for sustainability, for example. Some non-profits may have their own money. And some of the above sources may have a few sources (e.g., several CMHC funding sources). Another property may also be leveraged in order to secure financing.

9. Development consultants play important roles in the creation of housing. Essentially, a non-profit wishing to create new housing pays the consultants to help them develop housing—however, development consultants typically do not operate the housing once it’s built. During an initial conversation with a development consultant, the consultant might give a francophone seniors’ group a checklist of tasks. The group would then come back to the development consultant six months later, having done the homework.

10. This research has relevance for many other marginalized populations. Other groups of Canadians wanting to live as communities may including various Indigenous groups, linguistic minority groups, and members of the LGBTQ2S+ population.

In sum. While focused on francophone seniors in minority situations, this research is relevant to many other groups wanting to live collectively in affordable housing. The final report makes several dozen recommendations, one of which is to create a national entity that could support the development of new housing for francophone seniors in minority situations.

I wish to thank Jenny Morrow and Annick Torfs for assistance with this blog post.