In The Golden Girls, Shady Pines – the fictional Miami retirement home – was a running joke, often mocked by Sophia, who lived there before moving in with her daughter, Dorothy. Played by Estelle Getty, Sophia famously poked fun about Shady Pine’s dreadful conditions and even joked about starting the fire that eventually burned it down.
While perhaps less dramatic in real life, the tension between independence and formal care is real. Many of us have felt it in conversations with aging parents, grandparents or even in our own reflections: Can I stay in my home as I grow older?
According to a 2024 National Institute on Aging study, more than 80 per cent of older Canadians would prefer to age at home rather than move into a care facility. Ontario’s recent announcement of a $1.1 billion investment in homecare is a promising step toward supporting this, but funding alone isn’t enough. To be truly effective, it must be deployed strategically, with innovative models like Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) leading the way.
NORCs – apartment buildings or neighbourhoods where many older adults live, not by design but by demographic evolution – offer a unique opportunity to rethink how homecare is delivered. Ontario is home to more than 1,900 NORCs, housing more than 217,000 older adults, many in lower-income or subsidized housing. These communities already receive significant support: in 2022-23, NORCs accounted for more than 3.4 million hours of Personal Support Work service delivery. Yet care remains fragmented, with multiple agencies and workers often serving the same building, sometimes even the same individual. This duplication leads to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for coordinated, consistent care.
Ontario’s current homecare system relies on centralized government agencies to assess eligibility and contract services to external providers. While the province is moving toward modernization, the system still lacks the integration seen in other countries.
Looking abroad, Nordic models offer valuable lessons. In Denmark, most municipalities oversee all homecare services, including personal care, practical help and home nursing. There is an emphasis on coordination between regional hospitals and municipal care services to facilitate smooth transitions, especially after hospital discharge. Sweden allocates more than a quarter of its long-term care budget to homecare, emphasizing community-based support. These systems embed care into daily life, rather than dispatching it piecemeal. With homecare demand projected to rise 50 per cent by 2031 across Canada, Ontario must rethink not just how care is delivered but how it is experienced.
This is where NORCs can shine. Their high-density senior populations make them ideal for integrated, people-centered care. Research has shown that onsite wellness programs, peer support and coordinated services reduce isolation, improve outcomes and lower costs. Delivering care in NORCs reduces travel time, logistical overhead and duplication.
These models foster not just efficient care delivery, but also connection and continuity, which are essential to effective care delivery. We need to invest not just in services, but in settings, processes and people. NORCs offer a blueprint for transforming homecare into something more relational, community-based, and sustainable.
Spoiler alert: In The Golden Girls, Sophia chooses to stay with her friends not because they offer medical care, but because they provide connection, purpose and joy. That’s the essence of aging in the right place – not just avoiding hospital visits but staying meaningfully connected to people and place. NORCs reflect this ethos, offering a model of care that is not only clinically effective but is equitable, emotionally and socially enriching.
Goodbye, Shady Pines. Hello, Mississauga!
