When starting out on my career, I had a great desire to head straight for Levittown, New York
where William Levitt had changed the way subdivision were laid out and project houses were
being built. They were being produced in an assembly line fashion. At the time, he was the
Henry Ford of new home construction and was turning out a complete new home every day. It
was said that he sold some 17,000 homes shortly after the end of World War II to returning
veterans and their new families and I wanted to see it for myself.
My trip wasn’t really necessary because his success had already been picked up and adapted
by local builders who faced much the same housing demand here in Canada and had already
adopted many of his ideas and techniques. At the time, slightly over a million Canadian Army,
Navy and Air Force personnel were being demobilized with about half returning from active
theatres of war in Europe and Asia. This was the time for change and returning veterans and
their new families flocked to this new attractive alternative rather than return to the old
cramped urban locations of the day. They were looking for green lawns, open spaces and
modern houses suitable for growing families.
This sparked the biggest housing boom Canada has ever witnessed and even today many
builders continue to build upgraded versions of family oriented housing based on Levitt’s
principles even though there has been a rather important demographic change in the Canadian
population. It should come as little surprise that Statistics Canada reported that the population
of Canada is ageing and living longer with an increasing number even reaching the age of 100.
In fact, between the 2011 and 2016 censuses the number of people aged 85 and older grew
by 19.4% nearly four times the rate of the overall Canadian population, which only grew by
5.0%.
Unlike the period following the War, the Canadian population is aging, and the housing needs
are quite different from those suitable for growing families that sparked the housing boom in
the past. But in many instance new subdivisions are still based on the concept of growing
families. Coincidently, the days when people wanted to spend their “golden years” in a nursing
home has been waning, and more and more seniors want to stay in their homes as long as
possible and are looking to the housing market to meet their special needs.
This change in demographic has sparked a widespread interest by seniors to “age in place” by
continuing to live in the home where they brought up their families. They find they are healthy
enough and can access the social support and services needed to live safely and
independently in their own homes for as long as they wish and are able to do so. There is
however, a major problem experienced by many seniors in that their existing homes were not
designed or cannot economically be adapted to meet their current needs. In many cases the
homes are too large or difficult and expensive to modify.
Professor Jim Retallack for example, while not a senior, did require special housing needs due
to an illness that left him a paraplegic. He and his partner Helen Graham, did try to modify their
existing home, but found it too costly and impractical to undertake. So they acquired another
property adjoining a Conservation Area, had the existing building demolished, hired Architect,
Don Loucks and started afresh.The following video takes us on a tour of their completed home,
and includes a discussion between the Architect and Jim and Helen about the special features
of the new house. Have a look it’s quite fantastic!
Wikipedia has credited Architect Ronald Mace for coming up with the term “Universal Design”.
It means making buildings accessible to all people, regardless of their age, disability or other
factors and be usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their status in
life. It embodied the concept of adaptive and assistive technology. As we have already seen
that modern medicine has increased the survival and mobility rate of many seniors which is
promoting a growing interest and need for universal design of our residential buildings.
For example, having bathroom walls reinforced before the tiles are set to facilitate the possible
installation of “grab bars” in areas where they may be required in the future. Hallways and
doorways framed wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and their turning radius, floors
laid as level as possible to avoid potential “trip hazards”, areas of ceilings reinforced prior to
drywall installation to facilitate the possible installation of lifts at a later date, walk in showers
and many of the necessities of later life roughed in when it’s less expensive to do so. The term
“Design for All” is also sometimes used to describe design features targeting the future use of
facilities without expensive adaptations.
It is possible that as medical science continues to increase the life expectancy of Canadians,
many will live to enjoy the benefits of senior living in the years to come. They will want to
remain in their own homes and this has and will continue to create a new customer base that
will add value to the homes that feature aspects of a universal design. A new era of housing
demand is emerging and it’s time for builders, mortgage lenders and various levels of
government to take notice and think in terms of design and policy guidelines that favour the
basic housing needs of an ageing population.
Feature photo by Robert B. Hulley
Robert B. Hulley, is a retired Realtor and Real Estate Counsellor. He holds the Eric Arthur
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and is currently
a volunteer member of the Region of Peel, Community Design Team.
Photo by Carol Malach
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