HomeCurrent Print IssueAging in place needs more than good intentions — it needs smart...

Aging in place needs more than good intentions — it needs smart infrastructure

Current Print IssueEditorial

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Kristie Jones
Dr. Frank Knofel

Supportive smart homes should be treated as core infrastructure in modern aging policy

By Dr. Frank Knofel

s aging faster than our systems are adapting.

Nearly one in four Canadians will be over age 65 within the next decade. Research consistently shows that most older adults want to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Yet we continue to design and fund elder care as though retirement homes and long-term care are inevitable endpoints.

Between my research and over 30 years as a physician caring for older adults, I’ve learned that aging in place is not just a preference; it’s central to dignity, independence and well-being for many older adults.

But aging in place won’t succeed with sentiment alone. It requires a deliberate shift in funding, regulation and innovation strategy. Which means the federal government has a role to play too.

So, is it time to get serious about aging in place?

I have spent over two decades with a team of clinicians and engineers building, testing and studying how technology can be integrated into the home. Over time, we started making a distinction between “smart home” technology and “supportive smart home” technology.

The former is all about convenience. Technology designed to simplify and automate aspects of daily life. On the other hand, supportive smart home technology monitors expected routines and helps ensure they are fulfilled, empowering activities of daily living when they might otherwise be difficult.

The distinction matters.

Properly designed, supportive smart homes can detect changes in mobility patterns that may signal a fall risk, flag medication non-adherence, monitor for wandering in cases of cognitive decline and prompt early intervention before minor issues become hospital admissions.

The alternative is in-home care, which can mean facing the rising costs of a home support worker. For most people, the burden rests on unpaid caregivers, often family members, who are estimated to contribute the equivalent of $97.1 billion annually to Canada’s economy, representing more than three times the national expenditures on home, community and long-term care.

As demand for home care rises, workforce shortages persist, and ballooning long-term care costs, we cannot expect families and loved ones to stretch further. Proactive support is medically, socially and economically necessary for caregivers to remain as partners in care rather than perpetual monitors.

Supportive smart homes should be treated as core infrastructure in modern aging policy, not as experimental gadgets. We are no longer at the stage where these technologies are a futuristic dream. They are becoming accessible, cost-effective and studies are showing clear benefits to older adults and caregivers.

But scaling this approach requires policy clarity. Who pays for installation and maintenance? How is data governed? What safeguards ensure privacy and consent? And crucially, how do we prevent such technologies from becoming luxuries available only to affluent households?

If governments are willing to invest billions in brick-and-mortar facilities, they should be equally prepared to invest in digital infrastructure that helps Canadians remain safely at home.

Canada has a choice to make: continue expanding institutional care at escalating costs or modernize the home itself and prioritize aging in place. The latter demands serious leadership, including at the federal level. The demographic reality leaves little alternative.

Dr. Frank Knofel holds a Bruyère Health Chair in Research in Technology for Aging in Place and is a physician at the Bruyère Health Memory Clinic.

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