Dictionary, Census of Population, 2021
Collective dwelling

Definition

Collective dwelling refers to a dwelling of a commercial, institutional, or communal nature in which a person or group of persons reside or could reside. It must provide care or services or have certain common facilities, such as a kitchen or bathroom, which are shared by the occupants. Examples include lodging or rooming houses, hotels, motels, tourist establishments, nursing homes, residences for senior citizens, hospitals, staff residences, military bases, work camps, correctional facilities and group homes.

Statistical unit(s)

• Not applicable

Classification(s)

• Not applicable

Reported in

2021,^{Footnote 1} 2016,^{Footnote 1} 2011, 2006, 2001, 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966 and 1961.

Reported for

For more information on the dwelling population of interest, refer to the Type of Dwelling Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2021, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98‑500‑X.

Question number(s)

Responses

Collective dwellings are classified using data collected with the Collective Dwelling Record, Form 1A. An administrator of each collective dwelling first selects the category that best describes their facility. Based on the category selected, a series of auxiliary questions regarding the level of care and services provided at the collective dwelling is asked to the administrator to more precisely classify the type of collective dwelling.

The 10 categories and sub‑categories and their definitions are:

Hospitals

This category includes institutions, licensed to be a hospital, that provide medical or surgical diagnosis and treatment to the ill or injured. Also included in this category are institutions that are not licensed as hospitals but provide continuous medical, nursing and professional health care provision for persons who are not independent in all activities of daily living, such as chronically ill persons. Facilities not licensed as hospitals which are specifically for elderly persons are excluded from this category.

General and specialty hospitals
This category includes institutions that provide medical or surgical diagnosis and short‑term treatment to the ill or injured. Included are hospitals such as general hospitals, children's hospitals, maternity hospitals and remote hospitals.

Chronic care and long‑term care hospitals
This category includes chronic care and long‑term care hospitals that provide continuous medical, nursing and professional health care supervision for long‑term patients who are dependent in all activities of daily living and are unable to perform most or all personal care tasks.

Hospitals that provide both short and long‑term care
This category includes hospitals that provide medical or surgical diagnosis and short‑term treatment to the ill and injured, while also providing continuous medical, nursing and professional health care supervision for long‑term patients who are dependent in all activities of daily living and are unable to perform most or all personal care tasks.

Seniors collectives

This category includes facilities for elderly residents that provide accommodations with health care services, personal support or assisted living care.

Health care services include professional health monitoring and skilled nursing care and supervision 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for people who are not independent in most activities of daily living.

Support or assisted living care includes services such as meals, housekeeping, laundry, medication supervision and assistance in bathing or dressing for people who are independent in most activities of daily living.

Nursing homes
This category includes facilities for elderly residents that provide accommodations with health care services. Health care services include professional health monitoring and skilled nursing care and supervision 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for people who are not independent in most activities of daily living.

Residences for senior citizens
This category includes facilities for elderly residents that provide accommodations with personal support or assisted living care. Support or assisted living care includes services such as meals, housekeeping, laundry, medication supervision and assistance in bathing and dressing for people who are independent in most activities of daily living.

Facilities that are a mix of both a nursing home and a residence for senior citizens
This category includes facilities for elderly residents that provide extended health care services to some residents, and only personal support services or assisted living care to other residents. Included, for example, are facilities that are a mix of both a nursing home and a residence for senior citizens. Excluded are facilities that do not provide any services (which are considered private dwellings).

Residential care facilities such as group homes for persons with disabilities and addictions

This category includes residential facilities that provide accommodations with health care and/or social assistance services, such as counselling; supervision or custody; personal support or assisted living care; and diagnosis or treatment.

Included are group homes or institutions for the physically disabled, treatment centres, group homes for children and youth, and group homes or institutions for people with psychiatric disorders or developmental disabilities. Private dwellings with foster children are excluded.

Shelters

This category includes establishments for persons lacking a fixed address or for persons needing transitional shelter or assistance. Included are shelters for persons lacking a fixed address (such as homeless shelters or shelters for street youth), shelters for abused women and children, shelters for refugees and asylum seekers and transition homes or halfway houses for ex‑inmates or persons on conditional release.

Shelters for persons lacking a fixed address
This category includes establishments for persons lacking a fixed address, such as homeless shelters or shelters for street youth, or for persons needing transitional shelter or assistance.

Shelters for abused women and their children
This category includes establishments for women and children who need shelter or assistance.

Shelters for refugees and asylum seekers
This category includes establishments for refugees and asylum seekers who need shelter or assistance.

Other shelters and lodging with assistance
This category includes establishments for residents who need shelter or assistance. Included are transition homes and halfway houses for ex‑inmates or persons on conditional release.

Correctional and custodial facilities

This category refers to facilities where persons (inmates, young offenders, or other persons) serve a sentence in custody or where they are detained to await court proceedings, judgement, sentence or release. Included are federal correctional institutions, provincial and territorial custodial facilities, young offenders' facilities, jails and police lock‑ups. Excluded are transition homes.

Federal correctional institutions
This category includes correctional institutions where inmates (mostly adults) are serving a sentence in custody of 2 years or more. These institutions may be run either by the federal government or a private company.

Provincial and territorial custodial facilities
This category includes correctional facilities or detention centres where inmates (mostly adults) are serving a sentence in custody of less than 2 years or are being detained to await court proceedings, judgement or sentence. These facilities may be run either by the provincial/territorial government or a private company.

Young offenders' facilities
This category includes facilities to which young offenders are admitted into custody. The facility may be a secure or open custody facility. The minors are either awaiting trial, are under court order or have been convicted of an offence. A young offender is a person who is twelve years of age or older, but less than eighteen years of age, at the time of committing an offence.

Jails and police lock‑up facilities
This category includes facilities where persons are detained by police for a short period of time for any number of reasons, including awaiting court appearance, transfer to another facility, or release. A lock‑up facility is generally operated by a police force in a police station under the authority of a municipal, regional, provincial or federal authority. Persons may or may not have been charged with an offence. Detainees may be adults or young offenders.

Lodging and rooming houses

This category includes commercial establishments (which may originally have been a private dwelling) that have furnished rooms for rent. Residents receive no type of care. They generally have access to common facilities such as the kitchen and/or bathroom.

Religious establishments

This category includes establishments such as a convent, seminary, monastery or religious commune which provide accommodations to members of a religious group.

Hutterite colonies

This category includes a group of people of the Hutterite religion who live in dwellings that belong to the community and use their land for agricultural purposes.

Establishment with temporary accommodation services such as a hotel, campground, YMCA/YWCA, Ronald McDonald House or hostel

This category includes establishments (mostly commercial and may charge for accommodations) that provide temporary accommodations to persons for business, pleasure or other travel‑related reasons (such as medical treatment), as well as for non‑travel‑related reasons. Included are hotels, motels, campgrounds, parks and other establishment with temporary accommodation services. Generally, the clientele stay at the collective dwelling for a short period of time; however, there may be some people who reside there long term or use the collective dwelling as their usual place of residence.

Hotels, motels and tourist establishments
This category includes commercial establishments that provide temporary accommodations to persons for business, pleasure or other travel‑related reasons (such as medical treatment), as well as for non‑travel‑related reasons. Excluded are Bed & Breakfasts, which are considered private dwellings.

Campgrounds and parks
This category includes buildings or other facilities (such as tourist homes/cabins, commercial cottages/cabins, season trailer parks, campgrounds [public or private]) providing temporary accommodation for persons on pleasure trips, or for persons who are transients or with no fixed address.

Other establishments with temporary accommodation services
This category includes establishments such as YMCA/YWCA, hostels, and Ronald McDonald Homes that do not belong to any of the above categories and provide temporary accommodation to persons with or without a fixed address.

Other establishments such as school residence, military base, work camp or vessel

This category includes establishments such as school residences, training centre residences, work camps, military bases (including other buildings on the base), vessels (government or commercial), and other types of facilities.

Generally, the clientele of these facilities are less transient than the clientele of hotels, motels and campgrounds.

School residences and training centre residences
This category includes one or more buildings that usually accommodate students attending an educational institution or training centre, such as boarding schools, colleges and universities. These buildings may be located on or off the grounds of the institution and may also accommodate non‑students.

Work camps
This category includes establishments that provide accommodation to employees of an industry such as mining, logging or hydro construction, and are generally located in a remote area. A work camp usually consists of bunkhouses, tents or trailers.

Military bases
This category includes barracks and other buildings on a military base in Canada belonging to the Canadian Armed Forces.

Commercial and government vessels
This category includes commercial vessels under Canadian registry in port or at sea on Census Day as well as Canadian Armed Forces and Coast Guard vessels. Also included are other government vessels such as research and exploration vessels.

Other collective dwellings
This category includes establishments that meet the criteria of the collective dwelling definition, but do not fall into any other specified type. Included are, for example, racetracks, outfitter camps, carnival and circus camps, and non-religious communes.

Remarks

Only data for collective dwellings occupied by usual residents are published and limited information is available. The categories published for collective dwelling depend on the data quality. The categories published are derived using both the 10 collective dwelling type categories used for classification as well as the additional information collected that more precisely identifies the types of services offered.

Prior to 2016, census enumerators classified the type of collective dwellings using up to 27 categories. Generally, and depending on data quality, similar categories can be derived from the 2016 classification using the 10 collective dwelling types and the additional information that was collected on the types of services offered by the collective dwelling.

Note(s)

Related 2021 data products

• Type of collective dwelling and collective dwellings occupied by usual residents and population in collective dwellings : Canada, provinces and territories (98-10-0044-01)
• Type of collective dwelling, age and gender for the population in collective dwellings: Canada, provinces and territories (98-10-0045-01)