Item - 2023.mm13.13

City Council on December 13, 14 and 15, 2023, adopted the following:

1. City Council request the Government of Canada to develop a national strategy to better support the Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities model and Naturally Occurring Retirement Community programming across the country to enable aging in place.

2. City Council request the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada to establish long-term sustainable funding streams to support capital infrastructure and programming costs associated with Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities.

3. City Council request the Province of Ontario to explore opportunities to streamline home care services in Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities in order to simplify seniors access to services and refine the current fragmented system.

4. City Council request the City Manager to work with the General Manager, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, the Medical Officer of Health, Toronto Public Health, the General Manager, Transportation Services, the General Manager, Economic, Development and Culture, the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to report to the Economic and Community Development Committee before the end of the fourth quarter of 2024 with a plan for Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities that includes, but is not limited to, the following:

a. explores working with University Health Network's Naturally Occurring Retirement Community Innovation Centre on building greater system capacity for innovation, research and knowledge of Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities;

b. explores replicating the COVID-19 mobile vaccination program that was informed by Naturally Occurring Retirement Community data and criteria for other public health initiatives that provide routine vaccinations in order to improve accessibility, build community, and efficiently reach large numbers of seniors;

c. explores establishing road design guidelines that support the mobility and safety of older adults;

d. explores widening efforts to implement more benches along main streets, parks and green spaces, prioritizing areas with a high concentration of seniors and surrounding Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities;

e. explores expanding Residential Apartment Commercial Zoning across the City, with a priority on Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities, for small-scale non-residential uses like retail and community facilities in buildings to offer programming that helps older adults age in place;

f. through the development application review process, explores incorporating the impact mall closures and plaza demolitions have on the emotional and social well-being of older adults and marginalized communities, and work with applicants to develop alternatives; and

g. explores the feasibility of designating certain new affordable housing developments to include a minimum percentage of units designated to older adults, which may reduce Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation wait-lists and potentially decrease unnecessary institutionalization.

5. City Council direct the General Manager, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care to explore incorporating the above aging-in place recommendations into the Toronto Seniors Strategy 3.0.