Aging in place

Article from Volume 11, Issue Number 3, 2024

By Alan Forbes | Other articles by Alan Forbes | Feature

Naturally occurring retirement communities allow seniors to age in place

About one in four condominium residents is a senior — 65 and older — and most fear ending up in a long-term care home. Most seniors strongly desire to age in place, living in the same home or community safely, comfortably and independently. Naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) are a little-known option for addressing this desire. The NORC model looks to integrate support — health, social, physical — into the community to make it easier for people to age in place.

Imagine the increased number of services you require as you age. Initially, it might be just the need for some light housekeeping. As you get older, you might also need assistance with meal planning and preparation or help with daily hygiene. You are likely to have an increased need for medical care as time goes on.

In the typical homecare situation, a personal support worker (PSW) spends as much or more time in transit between clients as actually providing service to a client. In the NORC model, support workers travel to one site and provide services to multiple clients, significantly improving their efficiency and effectiveness.

NORCs are common in the United States and are becoming less uncommon in Canada, especially in Ontario. While some new communities are built on the NORC model, most are older, and their populations have been aging for decades. A NORC could be a highrise building or a cluster of smaller residential buildings or townhouses nearby. A NORC could include both rentals and condos. To be viable as a NORC, about 30 per cent or more of the residents should be seniors, with a minimum of about 50 seniors.

For more information about the NORC Innovation Centre in Canada, click here. It has a do-it-yourself (DIY) kit to help you set up a NORC in your community. Also, each year it accepts applications for its ambassador program, which enables you to set up and sustain your NORC. It also produced a research paper, A Home Care Model for Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities in Ontario. In June, it did an online presentation about the NORC model. Here is a link to the recording.

Note that the NORC approach is not a panacea for the problems with home care and long-term care exacerbated by the pandemic. At some point, a person’s placement into long-term care might be the only option. Also, the NORC approach doesn’t address the quantity and quality of the available support workers. It only enables them to work more productively.

Alan Forbes is a director and vice-president of CCI Manitoba. He serves on the Membership Committee, the Education Committee and the Communications Committee.