A seniors' rights group in New Brunswick wants the provincial government to make it easier for seniors to safely live where they want.

The Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents' Rights has launched a blue paper called "Aging in Place."

It lists recommendations to make it easier for seniors to live independently.

The group is calling for a publicly funded home-care service, better working conditions for home support workers and protection for seniors' assets.

Executive director Cecile Cassista said there are about 800 seniors in the province waiting for nursing-home care and about 500 seniors in acute hospital beds.

"We're talking about saving lots of dollars here for the province. Getting people out of the acute hospital beds to a tune of a $1,000 a day each is a lot of money," Cassista said.

The coalition also recommended an independent ombudsman for seniors.

"I think if you live at home you can contribute, whether it's an apartment or not, you're out there, you're purchasing power is still there, you're living, you're happy, you're living better, you're taking care of yourselves and you have an interest in life."

"I think that's where we need to go and we're going to work very hard to convince the government they need to go in this direction."

The coalition will present the blue paper to the government at a meeting on Dec. 6.