New housing complex good news for area seniors

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/06/2011 (5530 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Seniors living on a fixed income now have another option when it comes to affordable housing in north Winnipeg.

Members of the Fred Douglas Society cut the ribbon to celebrate last week’s opening of the Fred Douglas Courts.

Low income seniors were expected to begin moving into the 20-suite, $3.4 million independent housing complex at 1286 Aberdeen Ave. beginning this week.

Carolyn Ryan, provincial co-ordinator for the Winnipeg Housing and Homeless Initiative, said the Fred Douglas project addresses two pressing needs.

It provides additional housing stock for seniors and makes use of existing building infrastructure, she said. A former maintenance building was incorporated into the final design of the complex.

“From our perspective the Courts adds another support to the area, but is special in that we were able to take advantage of an existing facility that was not being used,” she said.

Eric Jensen, chair of the Fred Douglas Society’s board of directors, said the board had been considering what to do with the empty maintenance building on the Fred Douglas campus for nearly a decade.

“Back in 2003 we asked ourselves what could be done and what we could do with a decommissioned building? We started thinking about options and the needs in the community and this is the result,” he said.

Fred Douglas chief executive officer Roslyn Garofalo she doesn’t expect it will take long to fill the complex with new tenants.

“We don’t have a waiting list at the moment but I expect we will,” she said, noting the organization is currently in the midst of conducting an assessment of seniors’ housing needs in Winnipeg.

The $3.4 million project was funded by a joint $1.3 million grant from the three levels of government, $200,000 from the United Church of Canada and a $175,000 contribution from the Fred Douglas Society.

Fred Douglas is a non-profit organization that provides a range of seniors housing options including apartments for independent seniors, supportive housing for individuals who require assistance with daily activities and personal care homes for those requiring full care.

“This adds another level of support to our continuum of care,” Garofalo said.

rob.brown@canstarnews.com