Westside Seniors Hub
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Westside Seniors Hub
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/05/08
The Westside Seniors Hub (WSH) is a collective of member agencies, who work with seniors in the Westside of Vancouver. The WSH has been working for about two and a half years on the housing issues for seniors in the Westside. With respect to the housing issue for seniors, the partners of the WSH identified, about one year ago, noticed staff were increasingly encountering seniors. These seniors were requesting assistance with housing. For example, some have been evicted from housing. Why?
They had rental apartments. The rental apartments needed some renovations. Then the rents could be raised, but the seniors, who came forward, could not afford the rent for the single-family dwelling anymore. That is, the Westside of Vancouver seniors in the single-family dwellings, or single-family homes, were, in a real sense, asset rich and cash poor. As with the current real estate market, their assets increased significantly, but their cash, on hand, is low. As these houses in the Westside of Vancouver are old, they need adaptations.
The seniors could not afford the adaptations. The agencies began to see more distress associated with the housing problems in the area. This issue has been given insufficient attention as a seniors’ issue. The WSH talked with the seniors’ council and partners to help with the issues, to see areas of potential assistance for seniors in housing troubles. The Jewish family agency came to the WSH. They applied through Vancouver Coastal Health to hire a researcher. The research would interview the agencies and stakeholders more broadly to get the bigger picture of the situation.
This leads to two pictures in a bigger frame. One group are the home owners. The others are the renovators. “Some are being ‘ren-evicted’. Their apartment will be upgraded. Their rent is raised. But, of course, the rent is raised to the point where they can’t afford them anymore,” Mary Jane McLennan, member of the WSH, said, “Seniors want to age in place, connected to the services they are established with: medical services and all of the things that communities offer, grocery shopping and all of the basics.”
The risk is seniors are being evicted based on renovations and then rented at a higher cost. Seniors, in general, want to be in an established community. For many seniors, it takes time to become established in a community, which can create a problem if evicted and needing to find a new community. Senior communities are becoming, and will increasingly become, an issue because Vancouverites live so long now. In the interviews conducted by the researcher, other information emerged including the need to work collaboratively and for courageous leadership in addressing these issues.
Market subsidies could reflect real market prices and costs. The developments could cater to investors and seniors. The improved collaboration could support some of the organizations involved in the community. More in-depth information is in the report entitled “Seniors Housing on the Westside of Vancouver.” The report itself is a snapshot of the current issues seniors are experiencing now.
If you want to find out more or become involved, please see the information below:
2305 West 7th Avenue,
Vancouver BC V6K 1Y4
Tel: 604-736-3588
westsideseniorshub.org
seniorshub@kitshouse.org
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightjournal.com.
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