Advocate says property offences against elderly up in recent years
Violent offences against seniors have decreased 14 per cent while property offences against British Columbians aged 65 and older have increased 36 per cent during the past nine years, according to a report by the B.C. seniors advocate.
The third Monitoring Seniors’ Services report, released Thursday, includes data compiled by the RCMP that shows violent offences dropped from 1,131 in 2009 to 972 last year. During the same period, property offences increased from 11,835 to 16,106.
Isobel Mackenzie, the province’s seniors’ advocate, said she does not know the reason for either the decrease in violent offences or the increase in property offences against seniors.
“One of the challenges with any police data is whether incidents are increasing, or reporting is increasing,” Mackenzie said in a media teleconference. “We’re not sure what’s happening.”
Violence offences include any offences that result in harm to an individual; property offences include theft of personal items and damage to homes.
She said this was the first time her office has included this kind of data in its annual report. The seniors advocate will now be able to track this information over time in future reports.
“Seniors are going to be more susceptible to this simply because they own single-family homes and have property worth stealing,” Mackenzie said.
Other areas of concern singled out by Mackenzie include the decrease in home support services and adult day programs and the increase in lack of affordability for seniors who rent.
Mackenzie said the report becomes more meaningful each iteration because she is able to see trends develop over time.
The report notes that as of the end of March this year, there were 1,245 seniors waiting to access adult day programs.
Adult day programs are described as programs where seniors are brought together as a group outside of the home.
The median wait time for seniors ranged between 38 and 195 days. The number of funded adult day program days offered has decreased eight per cent since 2015-16.
“The average home support hours delivered per client per year decreased by (three per cent) from the previous year, while the number of clients increased by 3.5 per cent,” the report says. “This trend of decreases in home support matched against increased client complexity continues to be of concern.”
Mackenzie said that the provincial government should be concerned by the lack of support in these areas because it will mean more seniors in residential care, which is more costly to the taxpayer. “We know there are up to 15 per cent of seniors living in residential care who could live in the community with proper supports,” she said in a news release.
Other highlights include:
In 2016, 655,000, or 76 per ■ cent, of all seniors maintained an active driver’s licence, a 4.5 per cent increase since 2015. During this same period, the population aged 65 and older increased four per cent.
Last year, of 65,810 driver fitness ■ cases opened for seniors aged 80 and older, only 950 (fewer than two per cent) were referred for a DriveAble cognitive assessment.
The Seniors Supplement, a ■ monthly top-up provided by the province, is $49.30. It hasn’t had a rate increase since 1987.