Over the Covid-19 pandemic, the fragility of ?traditional? housing has been exposed. The inability of assisted living and long-term care facilities to protect vulnerable, elderly residents led to many families caring for their loved ones at home. Offices and schools shuttered overnight, leaving families to juggle homeschooling, working from home, home resource sharing, and other challenges daily.
Truth is, the vast majority of homes in Ontario are not adequately designed for family members of different generations to live together. Many homeowners, especially those with limited financial resources, have had to devise their own solutions to the problems of cohabitation, often involving the construction of illegal secondary suites in or around their homes. Pandemic-induced overcrowding is not the only issue affecting housing in Ontario. More generally, Ontario?s population is growing older: by 2050, about one-quarter of Ontarians will be older than 65. This will cause a significant burden to already-strained social services, and cause aging baby boomers to reconsider how their future care needs will be met.  Furthermore, nearly half of young adults aged 20-34 live with their parents?a phenomenon not only affecting established urban areas such as Toronto, but also a majority of suburban communities, where most new homes and family-oriented developments are being built. These, and several other factors?including a growing population, housing unaffordability, evolving cultural ...