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Seniors need land before housing can be built

Finding affordable land to build seniors housing is the biggest stumbling block for Whistler’s seniors, members of the Mature Action Committee were told at their annual general meeting on Monday night.

Finding affordable land to build seniors housing is the biggest stumbling block for Whistler’s seniors, members of the Mature Action Committee were told at their annual general meeting on Monday night.

Despite that huge challenge they were told to persevere.

"I don’t think the site is going to be served up on a platter," said guest speaker Tim Wake, general manager of the Whistler Housing Authority.

"I think we have to go after it."

In the 10 years since its inception MAC has been actively looking for a site that would be suitable for seniors housing. They would prefer land close to the village and its amenities, particularly close to the health care centre, and they need something that’s relatively flat.

The problem is the price.

"We couldn’t find anything that was close to affordable," said MAC member Gord Tomalty.

Wake, as the steward of Whistler’s employee-restricted housing stock, knows about the land pressures first hand.

"We have a pretty simple formula at the housing authority," he said.

"The land has to be free."

Wake presented the group with seniors housing solutions in other resorts.

Banff built their first seniors housing in 1984. It was called Mount Edith House with a total of 34 units. All the units were rental, tied to income and so partially subsidized by the province and the municipality.

Fifteen years later Banff partnered with the Abbeyfield Society, a charity which provides housing with care for older people. This joint project combined some partially assisted living with unassisted living units.

The Abbeyfield Society was also instrumental in getting seniors housing in Golden, B.C. Despite financial challenges in the last decade, when the forestry sector was starting to crumble, Golden managed to get housing for its seniors in 1999.

South of the border in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the first seniors housing project was developed in 1973. At that time, land was donated to the town and 23 units were built complete with an activity centre. In 1990 they built another seniors housing complex, all with one-bedroom units. Those units cost about $500 a month for unassisted living.

Wake urged the MAC members to be encouraged by these positive examples of seniors housing in other communities. But he cautioned that these places have been working towards their goal for a lot longer than Whistler’s MAC.

"First I think we have to recognize that... we’re still early in the process," he said.

"We’re merging into this so we shouldn’t be too impatient that we haven’t come along as far as they have."

One of the major differences however was that in all of the resorts, seniors housing was mostly rental units. MAC on the other hand is looking for a combination of purchase and rental, with three-quarters of the group looking to buy units.

"There are not a lot of examples of this in other resort communities," said Wake.

In all the examples Wake used for seniors housing there was a common theme.

"Donated land seems to be a common thread here."

Bob MacPherson, RMOW Interim General Manager of Development and Planning, was another guest speaker at the AGM who spoke about some of the land options in Whistler.

Last year a deal that would have had a seniors housing component on it, fell apart at the last minute. That deal involved the Lost Lake Estates, less then 10 acres of land in between White Gold and Spruce Grove.

"We have reason to believe that this could be resurrected in the next couple of months," said MacPherson, who wouldn’t elaborate.

This isn’t the only land option for development. MacPherson pointed to the Rainbow land in between Alpine and Emerald, as well as land at Nesters and in Alpine Meadows, at a site slated for a future school.

Another option is to modify existing older land stock, which already has bed units attached to it as well as any opportunities from the 300 acre land bank which Whistler is getting from the province as part of the 2010 Olympic Legacies.

"We have a new council with three new members," said MacPherson.

"They’re finding their legs right now."

But they will be looking to the Community Sustainability Plan to guide them in any future land decisions, he said.

MacPherson encouraged all MAC members to get out the CSP workshops in the future to get their seniors voice heard in the community.

MAC President Gord Leidal, along with other MAC members, has been working hard to get MAC’s message across both at Whistler. It’s Our Future workshops and at a political level.

"Certainly the feeling is we have a lot of support politically," he said.

But still the seniors are just one of many groups making demands on Whistler’s limited land base.

Also, the resort is still a fairly young community.

The 2001 census showed that only three per cent of Whistler’s population is 65 years and older. In comparison, seniors make up 14 per cent of the population in the province as a whole.

There will be a gradual shift towards a more multi-generational community in the future as the population gets older.

This trend towards an ageing population is called the "Quiet Crisis" in America, a country that does not have the health or housing infrastructure in place to deal with a population getting older. By 2020, one is six people will be seniors in the States.

MAC is still not sure what seniors housing will eventually look like in Whistler. It all depends on the land.

Leidal said there might be a second taskforce formed, much like the municipality’s non-cost housing initiatives task force, which would work through seniors housing needs and realistic goals.

Wake encouraged MAC to not only think about rental and purchase options in seniors housing but also doing a mixture of market and restricted housing.

While many MAC members are in the position to sell their Whistler homes and buy into a seniors complex, others getting older in the community may not be able to buy seniors housing at a market rate.

"If you can hold it down it makes it accessible for the next people coming along," he said.

MAC members seemed confident that despite the hurdles to get seniors housing in Whistler, it will happen one day.

Leidal said: "Certainly we would envisage more than one seniors community here in Whistler over time."