I was thinking about this, as a colleague commented about the nursing home his 91-year old mother is in. Nursing homes serve a purpose where focused care and attention are needed, however the version that grew in the 2000s was a combination of operational and capital efficiency — a “put ’em all in one place and it’ll be cheaper to care for them” and “it’s a real estate play” kind of attitude. What I’d love to see is more integrated communities. Gastown, Vancouver might be a microcosm for study. I live in a relatively “integrated” community — not without its problems mind you. Market rent, luxury condos, elbow-to-elbow with family housing (that’s where we live), next to social housing (a purpose built single room occupancy, “SRO”, building), all atop a supermarket, chemist, and indoor and outdoor community squares. There are seniors in the neighbourhood — not many and they live in other SROs in the neighbourhood. We have all walks of life in this neighbourhood — not yet a fully integrated community though. But what might be possible?