Cities need to give up on the myth that seniors are going to naturally transition out of their houses, because the reverse trend is happening, experts say. They also say that seniors are not to blame.
Economist Mike Moffatt is one expert interested in the topic. According to him, Ontario is seeing a “bottleneck of growth” and a lack of housing inevitably leads to significant labour shortages, which is his major concern.
“We are seeing big housing shortages here and there has been this idea that seniors will leave their homes and that will free up family housing. But that is really not happening,” he says. Dr. Moffatt is a senior director at the Smart Prosperity Institute, a think tank based at the University of Ottawa, and an assistant professor of business, economics and public policy at Ivey Business School.
Besides studying the city of Toronto, he’s taken a look at B.C. as well, where he sees the same shortage of family-friendly housing options.
“I decided to look at all the provinces, one by one,” he says, “and noticed that when it comes to shortages of family-friendly homes, Ontario and B.C. really stand out from the rest.”
And the pandemic will very likely accelerate the trend of seniors aging at home instead of downsizing into apartments or entering seniors’ care homes, Dr. Moffatt says.