Comfort Life
 
Jim Huinink - Editor

Jim Huinink
Editor, Comfort Life
January 2022


As we embark on 2022, I want to invite you to take a moment to look at five things we’ve learned in the last two years, with a focus on the positives that are happening, both in our industry and in the country in general.

1. We’re shifting back to a focus on health care and seniors’ safety. Last year, Karim Kassam, vice president of the BCSLA, expressed optimism that, in the wake of the pandemic, “senior living communities are going to be tremendously attractive.” He based this on faith in “innovation and investment that's going to be coming into the sector.” That would come from various sides, he noted, but it would focus on quality of care. “The public and the private sectors [are going] to take the approaches that we've [taken] over the last number of years [and] amplify that significantly.”

Industry observer Tim Mullaney notes that, in the pandemic, operators’ value propositions have shifted from a focus on luxury amenities and lifestyle to include an increased or renewed focus on health care and safety. Indeed, retirement homes are paragons of sanitation. Retirement home seniors and staff across the country have been first in line to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Senior living operators like your company are consistently bringing leading edge research and technology into daily operations to better protect seniors’ health and safety. That’s going to be great for your residents and just as good for you.

2. An explosive real estate market makes retirement lifestyle easily accessible for more seniors than ever before. According to wowa.ca, the average home price nationwide increased another 19% in December 2021 over the same month in 2020. Ever more home equity is available to people in their 80’s and 90’s who purchased their house decades ago, now often valued in the millions. See our longform discussion of this from last year.

3. You’re a lot better at online marketing! Virtual tours have become the go-to marketing tool in the midst of the pandemic. We’ve all gotten better at using Zoom, online video, and other technologies. At Comfort Life, we were especially happy to launch hundreds of videos in 2021. These showcased the happy families you serve, and the leadership behind senior living brands and communities. Everything we’ve learned will serve us well in the future!

4. Smaller centres have become retirement hotspots. Throughout the pandemic, Canadians’ interest in small town living increased dramatically. Some of the hottest developments in senior living are happening in rural areas where land is cheaper and the lifestyle is breezier. We’re happy to be ahead of this trend, garnering significant traffic to both best small towns (including pages for BC, Alberta and the prairies , and Ontario) and best places to retire pages (also with pages for BC, Alberta, and Ontario). These pages, in turn, drive readers to investigate member communities in those locations.

5. Pandemic-related fear has plateaued. In spite of the recent omicron surge, the worst of the pandemic, especially as it impacts senior housing, is past. The CMHC’s Seniors Housing Survey published in July last year showed that the national seniors’ housing vacancy rate grew seven full percentage points year over year, to 15.6%. This was due, in part, to increased supply, but oddly, the CMHC mused that “reluctance to move into seniors' residences during the COVID-19 pandemic” might be part of the reason. Of course it was! Now, though, there’s a pent-up demand paired with increased concern for the mental health of ageing loved ones. People will look deeply at the value offered by senior living communities. We’re happy to spread the word about the safety you offer, the wonderful company seniors find in retirement communities, the renewal they find there, and how much they enjoy life, after moving.

 

In other news

  • Promote trial stays and winter stays with a native content campaign. We all know that this time is the year is a peak for inquiries. Promote winter stays or trial stays with a Comfort Life native content campaign. Spotlight stories are promoted on hundreds of highly visited pages on our site, reaching tens of thousands of local families and seniors. This targeted audience is already researching retirement and senior living, and they’re eager to learn more. Contact your account manager today to learn how to get your community ‘In the Spotlight.’
 

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