Michael Brooks: Net benefit is undeniable: significant long-term savings for Ontario and improved care for Ontario seniors
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
In Ontario, a coalition of real estate, health and senior care associations are advocating for the enhancement of the province’s Seniors’ Care at Home Tax Credit, recognizing the value and societal benefits of giving seniors their own living choices.
Article content
Article content
Not only does this proposed tax credit make it easier for seniors to age in place or move into more suitable housing, it can also help address the housing crisis and save much-needed healthcare dollars, while ensuring that Ontario’s 750,000 seniors can live comfortably as they age.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Let’s look at how well this has worked in our neighbouring province, Quebec.
Since its introduction more than 20 years ago, Quebec’s Tax Credit for Home-Support Services for Seniors has proven highly effective in helping seniors remain in their communities, easing the strain on long-term care (LTC) beds, reducing hospital admissions, and expediting the return home from hospitals when a senior patient is ready to be discharged. Enhanced by politicians of every stripe over the years, Quebec’s program has reduced the waitlist for publicly funded LTC beds down to 3,700, less than one sixth of Ontario’s waitlist (adjusted for population).
Article content
Top Stories
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
Based on the most recent available data from 2020, implementing a tax credit program in Ontario similar to Quebec’s would initially cost the government $489 million in foregone tax revenue. However, this would be more than offset by at least $288 million in annual savings from reduced hospital and LTC admissions, savings from delayed healthcare entry, and lower healthcare demand.
The net benefit is undeniable: significant long-term savings for Ontario and improved care for Ontario seniors.
Supporting seniors moving into homes that match their current needs not only improves their quality of life but also creates positive outcomes for the wider community. Many seniors remain in homes that no longer fit their needs, often due to the financial and logistical barriers of moving. In fact, 29 per cent of senior singles and couples in Canada live in homes with three or more bedrooms. While options for downsizing — such as senior apartments, naturally occurring retirement communities, and licensed retirement homes — do exist, the supply is limited, and demand is expected to surge in the coming decades. Construction of new housing has slowed, driven by rising labour and material costs, and high local fees, charges and taxes.
Advertisement 4
Article content
Governments can play a key role in making downsizing more financially viable by offering targeted incentives such as a tax credit, which make it easier for seniors to move without being burdened by costs. Costs could include moving expenses or a percentage of rent in purpose-built seniors’ housing.
This would also encourage the private sector to build more purpose-built seniors’ housing for those seniors wishing to downsize. This, in turn, would have a positive cascading impact on our housing supply by freeing up single family homes, thereby further alleviating pressure on Ontario’s current housing system, while also presenting opportunities for gentle densification through the potential conversion of these homes into multiplex housing.
Recommended from Editorial
Michael Brooks is the CEO of Realpac (Real Property Association of Canada), a 54-year-old national association of institutional real estate owners of all asset classes, having approximately $1 trillion of assets under management.
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the business news you need to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
Article content