A group of Niagara-on-the-Lake residents conducted a detailed survey on seniors’ housing needs. The results of the survey were sent to NOTL politicians, including Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa. The Lake Report met with Zalepa to learn his feelings about the results of the survey. This is the first in a series of stories exploring the survey results and potential solutions to the problem.
Richard Harley
The Lake Report
Niagara-on-the-Lake’s lord mayor says he understands there’s a growing need for options for seniors who want to stay in town as they age.
“A lot of the things that are in the report are things that I think I always believed, because I’ve been in real estate for almost 30 years here,” Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa said in an interview.
It’s more of a “validation” of things people likely already know, he said.
But it’s helpful to have a survey done that seems to hold water.
“I felt pretty confident in what I saw. I’m by no means an expert on validating a survey. But it seems to be well thought-out,” he said.
The Lake Report sat down with Zalepa to discuss the results of a seniors housing survey, conducted by a group of NOTL residents and overseen by research experts Michael Ennamorato and Stephen Ferley.
The survey, among other findings, showed that a majority of NOTL residents aged 55 and up want to stay in NOTL as they get older, and maintain as much independence as possible.
They had concerns for access to health care, both family physicians and emergency services, and want to have a structured living situation that meets their changing needs.
Most said they would prefer to live at home, or independently, with options for assisted living and transitions to long-term care at the end of life.
Zalepa wasn’t surprised by the results.
He noted private facilities, like Radiant Care Pleasant Manor in Virgil, have already begun to adopt a model which has various living options for people as they age.
He said he’s seen it first-hand with his own parents, who are in their late 70s and have lived in NOTL since the 1980s.
They were on a waiting list for the Ina Grafton Stone Road Village, which offers a variety of retirement living options and services that still give seniors independence.
“And so that’s the proof of concept in that because they didn’t want to go into something that was more senior care style, because they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s not me. I don’t need that. I just need something different that doesn’t tie me to my yard and my property. And I need more connectivity with other people because they were getting a little isolated.’ “
His parents moved into Ina Grafton this summer and he’s seen “a tremendous positive change in just their whole outlook and how they feel.”
“They want that independent living, but as their needs and health care needs evolve, they want to know that it’s there and the community for them to transition,” Zalepa said.
He has asked some of the region’s housing, seniors’ services and social services experts to sit down with the survey group to discuss some of the options and next steps they can take to present the results and encourage the creation of more assisted living facilities.
Those experts, he said, can also “third party validate” the survey results.
The survey group asked a question about what can be done to offer incentives to developers who could build these types of facilities, keeping in mind that the affordability isn’t the main concern with a significant portion of NOTL seniors.
Zalepa said there are some incentives for developers, such as waiving development charges, but that largely those focus on affordable housing programs, so it’s a bit of a different animal when asking a private developer to build a high-end retirement community.
The survey results showed roughly 75 per cent of NOTL seniors have more than $1 million in assets and of that group, the majority said they have more than $2 million in assets.
“There is not to my knowledge, any type of incentive on the table for any residential development like this that’s not geared to affordability,” Zalepa said.
He said there are other options on the policy side that could be explored.
“There’s some reason we’re not getting the private sector running to do this,” he said, without speculating as to why.
The group has suggested it could be attractive to developers if they could pre-emptively be approved to rezone some agricultural land with the condition that the development be used for a variety of senior living and services, much like Pleasant Manor.
Zalepa said aside from Greenbelt challenges, which are a “hot potato,” but could also be addressed to the province during its upcoming Greenbelt review, there is some possibility to pre-apply zoning to some of NOTL’s various land uses and surplus town properties.
Part of the problem with much of the town’s agricultural land is that there are no services (like sewers and water), and the cost of bringing inn services would be a deterrent to developers looking to make a profit.
It would be best to keep focused to urban or built-up areas, Zalepa said.
“We’ve got some properties that are larger” in the urban area that could be explored for possible zoning changes to allow for a seniors development, he said.
That’s something council is already looking at through a housing affordability plan, he said.
“Part of the work that’s going to be involved with that is going to be identifying sites and doing an inventory of all our sites and being able to determine best use. So, even though it’s our affordability plan, some of the outcomes are going to be this kind of work.”
While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to housing for aging seniors, another part of the puzzle could be accessory dwelling units, which Zalepa noted are already allowed by the province and town policies are being updated to align with Ontario’s push for such units.
Accessory dwelling units are secondary units on an existing residential property.
Having diverse housing options also helps seniors who want the independence to make their own decisions on where they will age.
While secondary units are a small piece of the puzzle in Zalepa’s eyes, another way to increase housing supply is to create a mix of housing in new construction, such as apartment buildings, condos and townhomes.
“Currently, our housing stock doesn’t reflect that kind of that flexibility. We have a lot of single-family homes,” he said.
Another prevalent concern of aging seniors that the report identified is the proximity of their housing to good health care.
“I think the report has correctly identified that health care services are a key success driver for this,” Zalepa said, adding that he thinks the main challenge is getting primary care to people’s homes.
“The municipality doesn’t deliver that service. Maybe we should, but we don’t. Not even the region delivers that primary care. I think there’s a lot of soul-searching the province has to do to determine how it wants to service the public going forward,” he said.
“Hospitals aren’t the answer. Primary care is — which is your doctor. We’re lucky in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We have been able to attract doctors,” he said.
“We’re not at an acute shortage. We need more, but I think that’s a key area — health care delivery. We have to figure out a good way to bring health care to people’s homes.”
He elaborated that he understands the need for quick access to emergency health care.
“”My dad had a heart attack. It’s been two years this week. And he got great care. But the first little bit was touch and go.”
“He did get great care. And he survived the ambulance to the hospital which was a bit of a ride and then he had to be shipped to Hamilton. But that’s a pain point. That’s something the province and policy people have got to figure out.”
While the province handles health care, the region manages public long-term care facilities, like NOTL’s Upper Canada Lodge, which is slated to close soon.
When asked about long-term care homes in Niagara-on-the-Lake and how the region can justify closing those facilities, he pointed to more beds being built at Pleasant Manor by the private sector and a $400-million investment by the region in long-term care facilities in Niagara.
Pleasant Manor is constructing an additional 119 beds, while the region is closing close to 60 beds at Upper Canada Lodge, which he sees as a net gain for NOTL.
The region is building “a massive complex in St. Catharines — which is not too far. And also in Fort Erie and they had to consolidate,” he said.
“They couldn’t have the smaller units all over the place because the model for long-term care, and I’m not an expert on this, but this is the way they showed us, that they can’t make those work. They have to bring them together.”
As to why the region isn’t building those facilities in Niagara-on-the-Lake, he said he didn’t really have an answer to that, but that he thinks “it’s got something to do with the business model.”
Before the town can find ways to offer incentives to developers to build seniors housing that addresses the needs of NOTL residents, “we need to hear from them.”
“What’s holding them back or what makes them go somewhere else, if they are — and I don’t even know if the sector is really expanding in Ontario. I don’t know if there’s a lot of big investment here. Which is weird. Because why?”
He said a factor could be that it’s the toughest real estate market since 2008.
“The condominium sale market in Toronto is the worst I’ve ever seen it and new housing starts in Ontario are off the chart,” he said.
“All housing development is fiscally challenged right now. The banks won’t touch it.”
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Part 2: We’ll look at the status of the old NOTL hospital and the mayor’s thoughts on what could be appropriate for that location and the possibility of a joint venture with the town to provide assisted living. We’ll also examine what’s missing in the puzzle and talk about other town assets that could potentially be used for housing.
Part 3: What do the developers say? If NOTL seniors have money for high-end accommodations and health care, why aren’t developers building it? What can the town do to help?
