In late 2011, the City Council appointed a Seniors Advisory Committee with a mandate to develop an “Age-friendly” Plan for the City of Kingston in keeping with the theme and direction of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. Older adults currently account for 16.5% of Kingston’s total population. The City of Kingston became part of the Global Network in 2012.

The first stage in becoming an age-friendly city requires the completion of a baseline assessment of the city’s age-friendliness, while ensuring older adults’ involvement in the planning process. City staff prepared a profile of older adults providing socio-demographic information about older adults in Kingston. Approximately 44% of the population of Kingston is already in, or will be entering into the older adult classification in the next decade.

The City followed the WHO’s guidelines to adopt a locally-driven and “bottom-up” approach, starting with the lived experience of older persons regarding the City’s age-friendliness. Six focus groups were held with citizens, caregivers and community agencies. The feedback collected from these focus groups, as well as input from City staff, formed the basis for this assessment.

Information was collected on the eight domains identified by the WHO, namely: outdoor spaces and buildings; transportation; housing; social participation; respect and social inclusion; civic participation and employment; communication and information; and community support and health services. For each domain, information is presented on the WHO key features; identified gaps from focus group feedback; challenges for Kingston; current strengths, planned City initiatives and policies; and recommendations from the Seniors Advisory Committee.

While participants presented a range of perspectives and opinions on the age-friendliness of the City, four themes emerged from the focus group participants. Older adults want to live in their homes, be actively involved in the Kingston community, be informed of local happenings and be able to seek help when needed, and be respected. To do so, the built environment, community support, accessible transport, affordable recreational, volunteer and social opportunities, and timely and clear communication on all issues that may impact older adults must be in place.

In total, there are fifty-eight recommendations in the report to address these themes. The recommendations are focused on municipal programs, services and infrastructure as well as suggested partnerships with business and community organizations.

The next step to complete the planning stage is to develop a three-year action plan based on the recommendations. The action plan will assess the feasibility of each recommendation; place the recommendations in order of priority; identify leads and time frames for completion; identify indicators to measure success and articulate any municipal budget considerations.