Adaptable Model
Thinking about an adaptable model is a way to be more resilient when facing the whole challenge of providing long-term residential care in the city of Montreal since it could be applied at any scale. At its essence, an adaptable model is a combination of one household, co-op housing units, and additional public programs that can change. During the research, scaling down these facilities has always been an interest for us. Thus, what is the smallest possible model for this idea to work? The outcome was set to a household of 6 to 8 residents coupled with 15 to 20 housing units of various typologies. Depending on the context, a bigger site could accommodate more households, therefore more housing units, and additional public programs.
An Household
Comprised of all the spaces necessary for the living and the care of people with impairments and cognitive disorders, the household is meant to create a comfortable environment where one feels at home and integrated within its community. The household’s design aims to reduce the scale of large institutional buildings. Often time, autonomy and freedom of the occupants are encouraged in the household to improve the quality of life. These aspects are currently being explored in many care homes around the world like Le Village Landais in Dax, France. This article by the New Yorker is a great reading for understanding living with Alzheimer’s. The household accommodates 6 to 8 residents supported by two caregivers. In our case, additional services would be provided by the co-op members to help the residents with their daily life activities. The spaces included in the household are based on the current program proposed by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociauxfor la Maison des Aînés, adapted to the selected sites and aligned with the research project.
Comprised of all the spaces necessary for the living and the care of people with impairments and cognitive disorders, the household is meant to create a comfortable environment where one feels at home and integrated within its community. The household’s design aims to reduce the scale of large institutional buildings. Often time, autonomy and freedom of the occupants are encouraged in the household to improve the quality of life. These aspects are currently being explored in many care homes around the world like Le Village Landais in Dax, France. This article by the New Yorker is a great reading for understanding living with Alzheimer’s. The household accommodates 6 to 8 residents supported by two caregivers. In our case, additional services would be provided by the co-op members to help the residents with their daily life activities. The spaces included in the household are based on the current program proposed by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociauxfor la Maison des Aînés, adapted to the selected sites and aligned with the research project.
Co-operative
Housing
Montreal is currently facing a housing crisis, affordable housing and regulation provided by the public sector is more than urgent (RCLALQ, 2022). Co-operative housing is one option, already integrated and subsidized by the public sector in Quebec. Theory supports that cohousing model is a way to improve the health and well-being of people by ‘’creating communities, increasing social support, reducing isolation, increasing physical, emotional, and economic security’’ (Carrere et al., 2020). Furthermore, bounded communities tend to care for their surrounding, and thus volunteer more (Armstrong, 2020).
Based on these arguments, the research assumes a cooperative mode of living. Nothing new in Quebec, according to the Fédération de l’habitation coopérative du Québec (FECHIMM), over 50 000 people adopted a collective model. The housing typologies developed will differ in terms of sizes to accommodate various tenants’ profiles based on a 2019 socio-economic survey by FECHIMM. To define the amount of dwellings, the research lead to a ratio of 2.5 housing units per resident, which allows a demographic diversity of co-op members taking part of older people’s life. Communal and shared spaces will be part of the housing program, to reflect real needs and values of shared living.
We acknowledge that co-operative living is a bottom-up organisation. Thus, coupling co-operative living with long-term residential care may require more involvement from the public sector, government and/or municipalities, in the realization of a project of this sort. Community living for elders are seen accross Quebec. The Guide Habitat et Milieu de vie : Pour les groupes de citoyens promoteurs d’un projet d’habitation communautaire pour aînés by the Observatoire estrien du développement des communautés et Centre de recherche sur le vieillissement is an example of such initiative, but precedents formely including LTRCs, to our knowledge, don’t exist.
Montreal is currently facing a housing crisis, affordable housing and regulation provided by the public sector is more than urgent (RCLALQ, 2022). Co-operative housing is one option, already integrated and subsidized by the public sector in Quebec. Theory supports that cohousing model is a way to improve the health and well-being of people by ‘’creating communities, increasing social support, reducing isolation, increasing physical, emotional, and economic security’’ (Carrere et al., 2020). Furthermore, bounded communities tend to care for their surrounding, and thus volunteer more (Armstrong, 2020).
Based on these arguments, the research assumes a cooperative mode of living. Nothing new in Quebec, according to the Fédération de l’habitation coopérative du Québec (FECHIMM), over 50 000 people adopted a collective model. The housing typologies developed will differ in terms of sizes to accommodate various tenants’ profiles based on a 2019 socio-economic survey by FECHIMM. To define the amount of dwellings, the research lead to a ratio of 2.5 housing units per resident, which allows a demographic diversity of co-op members taking part of older people’s life. Communal and shared spaces will be part of the housing program, to reflect real needs and values of shared living.
We acknowledge that co-operative living is a bottom-up organisation. Thus, coupling co-operative living with long-term residential care may require more involvement from the public sector, government and/or municipalities, in the realization of a project of this sort. Community living for elders are seen accross Quebec. The Guide Habitat et Milieu de vie : Pour les groupes de citoyens promoteurs d’un projet d’habitation communautaire pour aînés by the Observatoire estrien du développement des communautés et Centre de recherche sur le vieillissement is an example of such initiative, but precedents formely including LTRCs, to our knowledge, don’t exist.
Public Program
Adding public programs is a mean to link the new model (Co-op + LTRC) to its neighbourhood. The types of amenities should depend on the projects’ location and meet the desires of the co-op. Until this day, existing long-term residential care centres in Montreal barely give adequate spaces between the building and public life, but there is current interest in shifting this paradigm. People may adapt to one experiencing the same condition rather than trying to impose their representation of what’s real. Assuming this, a broad public might be more aware of this reality if a situation occurs in a public space. On the other hand, a resident participating in public life, with the right assistance depending on his/her condition, could socially and psychologically benefit from such interactions, even by only seeing a diverse population from time to time. Like in Dementia Villages, residents can visit public spaces located within the perimeter of the village, but still, really enjoy it (Thomas, 2019). We are interested in seeing how these benefits could be applied in an urban setting within the research project to give back agency to older people.
Adding public programs is a mean to link the new model (Co-op + LTRC) to its neighbourhood. The types of amenities should depend on the projects’ location and meet the desires of the co-op. Until this day, existing long-term residential care centres in Montreal barely give adequate spaces between the building and public life, but there is current interest in shifting this paradigm. People may adapt to one experiencing the same condition rather than trying to impose their representation of what’s real. Assuming this, a broad public might be more aware of this reality if a situation occurs in a public space. On the other hand, a resident participating in public life, with the right assistance depending on his/her condition, could socially and psychologically benefit from such interactions, even by only seeing a diverse population from time to time. Like in Dementia Villages, residents can visit public spaces located within the perimeter of the village, but still, really enjoy it (Thomas, 2019). We are interested in seeing how these benefits could be applied in an urban setting within the research project to give back agency to older people.