More and more baby boomers and seniors are choosing to live out their golden years in their own homes instead of assisted living facilities.

Such is the case for Art and Oriole Veldhuis, 78 and 80, who’ve lived in their River Heights home for three decades and have no plans to move anytime soon.

"It would take some serious health issues,” said Art Veldhuis, “Or mobility issues before we would want to move out."

In industry terms, the desire to retire under your own roof, and your own rules, is called ‘aging-in-place’ and homebuilders, designers and  contractors are taking notice.

"It's really a new way of looking at our homes and making them live with us  and change with us,” said Vince Butler, a homebuilder and aging-in-place specialist based in Virginia.

Butler was recently in Winnipeg to give a three-day seminar on how to modify homes with aging and accessibility in mind to members of the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association.  

Baby boomers are now the fastest growing segment of our population and Butler says they want to stay in their home as they age.

He says simple modifications such as adding a second handrail on steps, installing level handle door knobs and changing out light switches are simple, inexpensive fixes that can make a home more accessible.

Some local businesses have already latched on to the trend.

The Ensuite Showroom on Sargent Avenue has a section and staff dedicated solely to marketing products with aging in mind.

"We've seen a lot more phone calls about walk-in bathtubs, lower threshold showers, and the comfort-height toilet as an easy way to integrate accessibility into the home," said Ensuite Showroom’s Megan Hemingway.

And it's not just existing homes that are getting the aging in place treatment.

In 2006, the Manitoba Housing and Renewable Corporation launched an initiative for 1,000 homes in the Bridgewater development area near Waverley West  be built as accessible or ‘VisitAble’.

200 hundred homes have already gone up and feature sloping entranceways, wheelchair accessible hallways and lower countertops and appliances .

"I think people come here and don't even realize that there's no stairs. They walk in and realize later, ‘Oh how come that was easier to get into?’" said Robert Wickstrom, owner of Hearth Homes.

According to Butler, there are challenges to get otherwise healthy seniors to sign on to modifications they may not need in the immediate future.

“They don't want to deal with it until it slaps them in the face and what we're trying to do is turn them into planners,” he said.

However, modifying a home to be more accessible may become more of a need than a luxury.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said there are nearly 300 seniors waiting for beds at personal care homes in the city.

A 2012 study by the University of Manitoba predicts that after the first boomers turn 85 in a few years, between 5,100 and 6,300 extra beds will be needed in personal care homes, supportive housing or expanded home care.