Lake Country and Senior Housing

One of the things that has become apparent to me is that Lake Country does not have sufficient senior housing to accommodate the increasing senior population. Well, obviously there is no easy answer to this and certainly costs and economic conditions are still not conducive to varied development.

So I was pleased to see an article in the Vancouver Sun yesterday about an initiative from the provincial government to ship modular homes built by BC manufacturers to 11 communities in BC, and Lake Country is one of them.

The units will be rented out to seniors and people with disabilities in Creston, Pemberton, Port McNeill, Prince Rupert, Qualicum Beach, Keremeos, Lumby, Naramata, New Hazelton, Terrace, and our own Lake Country. The cost of this initiative to the Province will be a total of $15.5 million, which amounts to 358 units in total. The federal government is also a funding partner.

The modules will be 600 square feet, single storey, one bedroom houses and they will be built with seniors and people with disabilities in mind with wide, lever-handle doors for wheelchair access, lower light switches, showers with sit-down areas and grab-bars in the bathrooms. Modular houses are more affordable because building identical units in a factory assembly line cuts cuts production costs and time.

Rent will either be set at 30 per cent of income, or at a low flat rate. All the units are being built with 100 per cent BC mountain pine beetle affected wood, which, if unused, would certainly be left to rot.

The Lake Country project is overseen by the Society of Hope, which is working on the expansion of Cedar Court, an existing senior housing park next to Municipal Hall. Staff and the Society of Hope are working together to speed the approval process and accommodate the units.

Good news for Lake Country!

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