Monday, May 10th, 2010
People don’t typically move to golf course communities in cold climates, although a recent edition of CARP magazine lists 27 active adult communities in Ontario, six of which feature golf courses. Canadians looking to avoid winter but still wanting to keep active might be more inclined to move to amenity-rich buildings. Some developers have taken dead aim at these consumers, incorporating pools, gyms, golf simulators, and personal trainers into their menu of services. On a more intellectual level, communities that offer links to universities or are built right on university campuses have become extremely popular in the US. There are more than 100 such communities, which offer reduced or free tuition, access to libraries and university events, and even opportunities for employment. Many of these communities operate on an entrance fee basis, similar to life lease housing.
Although a number of Canadian universities are adding residential components to their campuses, very few seniors’ communities have been developed—in fact, we have only been able to identify two, although a third is in the planning stages at Trent University in Guelph. (In an interesting reversal, several floors of a nearby seniors’ residence have been converted to student housing at the University of Winnipeg.) The first and largest is the Village by the Arboretum, on the campus of the University of Guelph. Home to over 1,000 seniors and active adults, the community consists of single detached houses, townhouses, apartment-style condominiums, an on-site medical centre, and social and recreational facilities. An assisted living component is planned. At the University of British Columbia, Concert Properties and Leisure Care are building a 180 unit seniors’ community that will include 134 rental units and 46 condominium units.
It seems rather curious that university-based seniors’ housing is such a rarity in Canada. The old 10-1 rule suggests that if there are 100 seniors’ housing communities on university and college campuses in the US there ought to be around 10 in Canada. It is also worthwhile considering that the university-based seniors’ communities in the US were developed in the pre-baby boomer era. What will happen when the boomers start retiring in large numbers? Will campus-based seniors’ housing explode?
Tags: Aging, Aging in place, Housing Options, Senior Housing, Seniors' Housing, Trent University, UBC
Posted in Future, Senior Housing | Comments Off
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