Seniors in Alberta

• There are 425,000 seniors in Alberta as of January 2012.
• Approximately 54% of Alberta's seniors are female.
• More than 51% of Alberta's seniors live in either Edmonton or Calgary.
• Population projections suggest that the number of seniors in Alberta will increase to 642,100 by 2021. By 2031, approximately one in five Albertans will be over the age of 65.
• Most seniors live in private housing. In 2006, approximately 71% of the seniors’ population lived in homes that they owned. An estimated 19% resided in rental accommodation and about 7% lived in provincial housing settings, including seniors’ lodges. Approximately 3% of seniors lived in long-term care facilities.
• Seniors are involved in their communities. In 2007, an estimated 84% of Alberta seniors made financial donations to charities and almost 41% of Alberta’s seniors participated in some form of volunteer work.
• Alberta seniors are more active in the labour force than other Canadian seniors.
• In 2010, there were 58,900 seniors in the Alberta labour force.
• The majority of seniors rate their health as excellent, very good or good.

Seniors Programs

• Approximately 151,000 Alberta seniors receive a monthly payment from the Alberta Seniors Benefit program.
• The 2011-12 budget is over $323 million.
• In 2008-09, the government spent $1.3 billion on prescription drugs—over $500 million of which was spent on seniors’ drug programs and services. Blue Cross Coverage for Seniors includes costs for prescription drugs ($487 million), ambulance coverage ($20 million) and other benefits like prostheses, home nursing, and clinical psychology ($4.4 million).
• The Special Needs Assistance for Seniors program provides financial assistance for extraordinary or one-time expenses to seniors. The 2011-2012 budget for this program is almost $20 million and over 23,000 seniors receive assistance each year. The Dental Assistance for Seniors and the Optical Assistance for Seniors programs have over 210,000 seniors currently enrolled. The 2011-12 budget for the Dental program is over $59 million and the 2011-12 budget for the Optical program is over $8 million.
• The Education Property Tax Assistance for Seniors program provided assistance to approximately 103,000 senior households in 2011 and the 2011-12 budget is $15 million.
• Approximately 9,800 seniors in long-term care and designated supportive living facilities receive financial assistance with their accommodation costs through the Alberta Seniors Benefit Supplementary Accommodation Benefit.

Capital Grant Funding

• Current Capital Funding Programs:
  • Affordable Supportive Living Initiative (ASLI)

Accommodations for Seniors and People with Disabilities

• The Government of Alberta provides capital grant funding to support housing for seniors and people with disabilities in the province.

Albertans with Disabilities

• There are approximately 410,000 Albertans age 15 and older with disabilities. It is expected that with the aging of the population, there will be a significant increase in the number of disabilities.
• People with disabilities are a diverse group. However, most are older, married and have limitations of a less severe nature. 53% of Albertans with disabilities are female and 47% are male.
• Albertans with disabilities are most likely to have agility, mobility and/or pain-related limitations (a person can have multiple types of limitations).
• Approximately 67% of people with disabilities aged 15-64 are employed.
• A large proportion (60%) of Albertans with disabilities live in Edmonton or Calgary. In total, 70% of Albertans with disabilities live in urban areas.
• 45% of Albertans with disabilities complete some level of post-secondary education.

Programs for Albertans with Disabilities

• The Persons with Developmental Disabilities Program (PDD), provides funding to help approximately 9,500 Albertans with developmental disabilities to live as independently as possible by providing staff support at home, at work, and in their communities.
• The Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program provides financial and health-related assistance to approximately 44,000 adult Albertans with a permanent disability that substantially impairs their ability to earn a living.
• The AISH program provides a monthly living allowance, a child benefit, health benefits, and personal benefits to assist eligible clients with their living needs and with living as independently as possible. The AISH living allowance supplements other sources of income, to ensure a client’s monthly income from all sources does not fall below a certain level, currently $1,188.
• The AISH program supports clients to work to the extent they are able. The program provides an exemption for employment/self-employment income. For single clients, the first $400 plus 50% of any amount up to $1,500 is exempt. For single parents and couples, the first $975 of employment income per month, plus 50% of any amount up to $2,500 is exempt.
• The Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL) program helps approximately 85,000 Albertans with a long-term disability, or chronic or terminal illness to obtain medical equipment and supplies that help them maintain their independence in their community setting.
• The AADL program consists of five benefit areas: medical surgical supplies; respiratory; mobility and large equipment; prosthetics and orthotics; and hearing aids and amplification benefits.
• The AADL program’s 2011/12 budget is almost $124 million.
• The AADL program works in cooperation with approximately 600 vendors who provide the medical equipment and supplies to clients and 2,400 health care professionals who assess clients’ clinical needs and determine their eligibility.
• AADL clients pay a cost-share amount of 25% of their benefit costs up to a maximum of $500 per individual or family per year. Low-income Albertans and those receiving income assistance such as AISH or Income Support benefits do not pay the cost-share portion.
• The Residential Access Modification Program (RAMP) provides grants of up to $5,000 to modify the homes of lower-income Albertans who are wheelchair users to make their homes more accessible and safe. Approximately 300 applications are approved annually.
• Listing of Alberta government disability-related programs and services

Contact us for more information: seniors.communications@gov.ab.ca