* 48 percent indicate participation in volunteer activities;
* 47 percent of seniors indicate that they spent more than 30 percent of their income on shelter with twenty percent spending more than 40 percent;
* 34 percent indicated that their income would not be sufficient to meet the expenses of major home maintenance costs, such as roof or furnace replacement; 44 percent were not aware that provincial financial assistance is available for such projects.
The Atlantic Seniors Housing Needs Conference, held at Mount Saint Vincent University, May 27-29, 2009, brought together the various stakeholders and other interested individuals from the four Atlantic provinces to receive the final report of the five year ASHRA Project. Perhaps the major conclusion of this study is that Atlantic Canadian seniors want to age in place. Seniors from all four provinces indicate that they want to remain in their own homes, stay connected with their family, friends and community and are willing to modify both their homes and lives to do so. In this connection, very few seniors have made plans for a future move with only 13 percent indicating plans to move within the next twelve months.
The study also determined that the majority of Seniors in the four Atlantic Canadian provinces:
* live in rural areas;
* prefer to age at home in their communities;
* have housing repair needs;
* spend a disproportionate amount of their income on housing;
* do not think about housing alternatives;
* are not aware of available housing programs;
* prefer “seniors only” housing;
* participate in volunteer organizations;
* do not participate in seniors programs.
Other significant aspects of the Conference was the announcement of the winners of an International Affordable Seniors Design Competition. One of the most interesting speakers was Andy McIntosh, Turnstall Group Ltd, UK who spoke on “Aging in Place: Telecare and Telehealth – The British Experience”. Victor Regnier, University of Southern California, spoke on “Innovative International Models for Housing Older People”. Louis Tenenbaum, Specialist on Aging in Place gave a dynamic presentation entitled “Can Technology Help Us Age in Place?”
The final day of the conference was devoted to the theme “Age Friendly Communities” with a number of speakers including Dr. Jane Barratt, International Federation of Aging, Dr. Marie Beaulieu and Dr. Suzanne Garon, University of Sherbrooke, Quebec.
For those of us who were Stakeholders in ASHRA the final session of the conference consisted of a meeting to discuss the future in terms of new initiatives or at least continuing the relationships established during the ASHRA project with a view to continuing to work together on the issues identified and ensure that the results of the project are communicated to all who might be in a position to help in implementing the recommendations that will be made in the final Report of the project.
The ASHRA Principal Investigator was Dr. Donald Shiner of Mount Saint Vincent University with Co-investigators from Dalhousie University, the University of Prince Edward Island, the University of New Brunswick and the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Information on all aspects of this Study can be found at: www.ashra.ca
