Seniors and people with disabilities now have increased access to affordable housing in the town of Taylor.
McMahon Manor is a new eight unit building that is available for seniors and people with disabilities.
“I think it doesn’t matter where you go, all across the province or anywhere in Canada or all over the world, I think affordable seniors housing and disabled housing is crucially important to each and every community,” said Pat Pimm, MLA for Peace River North.
Pimm also noted that more seniors are choosing to stay in the community they were raised and lived in instead of partially or completely moving to warmer places such as Arizona and Phoenix.
“I think your going to have more and more of this kind of facility needed in the future,” he said.
“They were filled almost immediately when they were finished construction.”
The housing was funded as amendment to the Canada-British Columbia Affordable Housing Agreement. In order to pay for the construction of the project, the federal and provincial government provided an approximate total of $1.6 million. The District of Taylor also helped make the housing possible by providing land valued at $100,000 for the housing.
Mayor Fred Jarvis feels that there are a larger number of seniors choosing to stay in the area but who are no longer able to deal with the upkeep and maintenance of their properties.
“Lots of them wanted to be in a place where they didn’t have to look after the yard and that kind of stuff, they were ready to move out of their own place,” Jarvis said.
The Seniors Rental Housing Initiative is a product of a $365 million joint investment to develop 1,300 new and affordable rental-housing units in smaller communities throughout B.C. The initiative was first announced on April 8, 2009 and it was announced that this project would include funding in the amount of $104 million for seniors and $19.4 million for persons with disabilities.
Jarvis believes that this program is a positive thing for Taylor.
“They can stay with their families in the area and their families can visit them, they’re at home, they don’t have to go away from home to have a place to be,” he explained.
Jarvis also noted that for the community of Taylor having seniors housing available helps complete the community.
“It’s tremendous to have some in Taylor,” explained Jarvis.
“There’s lots in other communities like Fort St. John, but to have it in our community makes it much fuller as it gives it a more rounded community to continue to have that senior presence.”
