The number of seniors demanding affordable housing in central neighbourhoods such as Centretown could increase if proposed transit cuts go through as planned, says the chair of the city’s seniors advisory committee.
“Definitely there’s going to be an impact on seniors with some of the changes that are coming up,” says Peter van Boeschoten.
He says some people will have to move to central neighbourhoods because these areas offer shorter walking distances and better bus service.
In general, Ottawa seniors are especially dependent on transit because most of them live in the suburbs, he says.
“There’s been a major shift. It used to be that all of the seniors were downtown. Now, they’re in the suburbs – Kanata, Barrhaven and Orleans – because that’s where they grew up and that’s where they want to stay.”
According to Statistics Canada, the number of seniors in Ontario will double over the next 16 years. By 2041, 23 per cent of Ottawa residents will be 65 or older.
Low-income seniors are particularly vulnerable to the effects of transit cuts because they’re more likely to take the bus, says van Boeschoten.
It’s tough to find affordable housing in Centretown, says Trudy Sutton, executive director of Housing Help, an organization that helps people find affordable housing.
The wait for subsidized housing is more than two years, she says.
“There have been months where we haven’t even been able to find one bachelor that would be affordable,” says Sutton.
Many seniors are on a fixed income and they’re definitely going to be paying more than the 30 per cent they should be for rent if they live in Centretown, says Sutton.
Longer walking distances may contribute to seniors needing to move, says van Boeschoten.
“They take that loop out – that doesn’t go down that crescent anymore – seniors who used to be able to take the bus, now it’s too far to take those routes,” he says.
Reduced service during the day-time will also impact seniors, says Dominique Paris-Mackay, director of the Age-Friendly Ottawa Initiative with the Council on Aging of Ottawa.
“These are precisely the times for seniors to travel because they want to avoid the rush hours,” she says.
Free bus rides for seniors on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons are a “carrot stick” offered by the city and don’t solve the problem of access, says Ashton Starr, co-organizer of the Ottawa Transit Riders’ Union.
These free afternoons are a step in the right direction, but fall short as a solution, says Paris-Mackay.
“They offer some concessions, but follow with ideas that exclude seniors physically and economically,” says Starr, citing staircases in the new double-decker buses and high bus fares as problems.
The changes may result in increasingly limited mobility for Ottawa’s seniors, says van Boeschoten.
Limited mobility is a major contributor to isolation that can lead to mental and physical health problems, agree van Boeschoten and Paris-Mackay.
Making it harder for seniors to stay living in their own homes is out of line with Ontario’s policy on aging, which endorses seniors staying in their own homes as a way to keep them healthier longer, says van Boeschoten.
“The longer you’re in your own home, the longer your social network is preserved, the better,” says Paris-Mackay.
Social participation and a sense of inclusion are key aspects of well-being, she says.
“So really what we’re looking at is maybe a third option that won’t happen overnight – something we used to have about 15 years ago. Something called a dial-a-bus,” says van Boeschoten.
If properly implemented, a door-to-door service for seniors wouldn’t be any more costly than “running the 40 passenger bus basically empty around the community,” he says.
“We virtually do it now with ParaTranspo, but it only benefits people who qualify,” says van Boeschoten.
“They wouldn’t need the fancy Para Transpo vehicle, just the regular vehicle,” he says.