Congregate living and the law as it affects older adults

Based on our experiences serving clients for 25 years and our research for this project, it is the opinion of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) that Ontario's current legal structure is inadequate to meet the needs of older adults residing in congregate settings and failing to have their complaints heard and resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner. ACE has used the phrase "congregate setting" to refer to those locations where older adults reside in a group setting - namely, hospitals, retirement homes and long-term care homes - which have a health care component, where resources are shared (e.g., meals, rooms, programming) and where there is an inability to easily move to a different location. Residents of congregate settings are particularly vulnerable as they are dependent on the very institutions that provide their care and shelter, in addition to the fact that they are "out of sight" from public scrutiny.