Gwen Kavanagh’s Passion for Homing Solutions

Gwen Kavanagh is very concerned about housing for seniors. The Chair of Barrie’s CARP Chapter is well aware of the multiple difficult situations aging adults face in Ontario and throughout the country. But one problem is central to her: With Canada’s population increasingly becoming older, where will aging adults live and will they be able to truly enjoy their home environments?

 

One of the five priorities for CARP 2025 is Home and Community Care. Our “asks” this year fit in with Kavanagh’s interests. CARP has stated that “Over 95% of our members tell us they want to age in place, but the majority of spending is focused on institutional care.” We realise that “It is paramount that federal and provincial governments work together to significantly expand investments in the amount of home care provided.” Kavanagh has led CARP’s local advocacy in creating awareness of alternative seniors’ housing options, and for the provincial and municipal policy changes that would allow them to flourish. Some of the solutions which Kavanagh is pursuing with another organization with which she is involved, The Simcoe County Senior Housing Alliance, offer out-of-the-box ideas for homing solutions.

 

Kavanagh has been working on the issue of senior’s housing for years. A native of Simcoe County, who grew up on a farm, Kavanagh became interested in seniors’ issues after she lost her husband and a child to cancer and found herself with time to pursue humanitarian concerns. As a volunteer at a retirement home, Kavanagh was deeply moved by a shy older man, who found it difficult to fit into the life at a long-term care facility. She saw that empathy should play into solutions for seniors, which helped to lead her to become involved with CARP, a membership organization that does have community values, and needed a Chapter in Barrie.

 

Kavanagh recalls that “One day, I attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Bracebridge. It was held at the first Solterra Co-house in Canada and had four senior owners. It surprised me to see how engaged and happy they were, eager to show off their suites and the house, to talk about all their routines and outings. I immediately hunted down Shelley Raymond, the person responsible for this home and plied her with questions. I went back to Barrie and asked our CARP Board to start a Housing Committee and had Shelley come down and do a presentation to us. Thus, the beginning of my quest to bring a concept for better aging to Barrie and hopefully eventually to Ontario and Canada.”

 

Kavanagh is a rare individual who has the energy and passion to be involved in more than one organization working for the betterment of Canada and its seniors. While she is keen on her work with CARP, she is also excited by the Alliance’s advocacy, which “explores many models of housing, including shared housing and co-housing communities.  These can be individual homes or smaller multi-unit settings where people have opportunities and choices for socially connecting with family, friends, and community.”

 

When asked why she is so engaged with the subject of how seniors should spend their lives, Kavanagh’s response is compassionate. “One stroke, heart attack, fall, death of a partner or onset of dementia changes their world. How many seniors are planning for this stage in life or will they let someone else make decisions for them?”

 

While the Alliance is looking at many options for seniors, Kavanagh is convinced that one solution is the best for many older adults. She believes in co-housing, which many are now calling the “Golden Girls” option. It’s named after the evergreen television series which featured four aging women living together—cooking, sharing confidences, life’s joys and sorrows—in a shared home. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, Golden Girls garnered Emmys for all four leads and was a hit for seven years. Kavanagh is a fan whose favourite was White but clearly she doesn’t expect everyone living in a co-housing environment to have the rosy existence one sees on TV.

 

What Kavanagh does propose is an idea with a lot of merit. “Co-housing will work for many of us, both money-wise and to combat loneliness. Older adults get to stay in their community, and it will free up their family from caregiving. Seniors keep their dignity and have a say in decisions as compared to being institutionalized. This allows them to thrive, not just survive.”

 

Kavanagh goes on: “Not only will co-housing work for more than 50% of or seniors, but it could also assist the younger generation to get a start in purchasing a home. The government should support co-housing as it keeps us out of the government purse and is a practical answer to many problems.”

 

CARP Action asked Kavanagh to give us 10 reasons for supporting co-housing. Here they are:

 

Co-housing does the following:

1. It is a market based solution that does not require taxpayers to foot the bill
2. It takes pressure off already overcrowded and underfunded institutions
3. It gives seniors more and better options when planning their retirement and twilight years
4. It relieves loneliness, gives dignity to seniors and has already proven to be a viable and sustainable option
5. It greatly reduces elder abuse and scams targeting seniors
6. It assists families by taking the burden of caregiving off their shoulders
7. It allows people to stay in their community with their friends, clubs, places of worship etc.
8. One Co House can free up four to six housing options for the rest of the population
9. It gives its residents far greater control in the way things are run
10. When done correctly it provides a “family” for its residents and a sense of community