Mackenzie housing not keeping up with boom in senior population

Fogarty says the seniors population has boomed in Mackenzie, as in 2006 3% of the population was seniors (65 and older), but as of 2021, that is now 17% of the population. Those numbers come from the Canada Census, and having seen the rise in seniors in Mackenzie, the WLES was formed.

“We’re looking at a home that would cover everything, from people that might want to still have an active lifestyle who can still cook and clean for themselves, to people that might want 50/50 services. And we’re hoping that we’re going to start to get some sort of partnership with the Northern Health group to see if we could actually do some possibly long term care beds in the facility as well,” Fogarty said.

It’s a need well-known to the community, and one its MLA Kiel Giddens fully supports.

“Last spring in the legislature I asked the Minister of Health how we can help the Willston Lake Elder Society get more access to funding for long term care beds, assisted living. We need the full spectrum of housing for seniors in MacKenzie, and it’s so important,” Giddens said.

“Right now, the only care for seniors who need respite or long term care are very limited beds in the hospital. We know that seniors would thrive much better outside of a hospital setting, and that’s why supportive housing, assisted living for seniors, is something that would,just be a tremendous benefit to MacKenzie,” he continued.

The project was given a three-acre plot of land to build the facility, but before plans can start to be drawn up it will take years of research and behind the scenes work to bring it all together, a challenge Fogarty and the WLES are prepared to take on.

“We have had discussions with two groups that were fairly interested, but because funding seems to be in a state of flux right now, those partners kind of backed away. We’re talking also to a First Nations group that’s down on the island, and they’re showing some interest as well. We’ve also spoken spoken to an individual out of the Alberta corridor that builds prefab homes as well, too. So we’re kind of in our infancy,” Fogarty said.

“We need to help them get their capacity up to get the business case ready. This is going to be a bit of a long term project, but the need is now. So we have to act really quickly. They’re in the phase of really building their business case, what we heard in Victoria is really that, they need to start that process,” Giddens added.

If the senior population is rising in Mackenzie without alternative places to live, why don’t they simply move to communities like Prince George where more options are available? Fogarty explains that it’s not just about wanting to stay in a nice community, it’s also not feasible, even if you were to sell your home and use that money towards Prince George housing.

“Right now the median house price in MacKenzie is about $180,000. And as you can well imagine, $180,000 in a rental or other type of housing in Prince George is well out of the reach of most people,” he said.

However, should there be a seniors living complex in Mackenzie, Fogarty says those seniors would then be able to sell their homes and stay in their community. He believes this also has the additional benefit of freeing up additional homes in the community, which, perhaps ironically, could possibly make Mackenzie younger.

“If we can actually have seniors move out of their houses, that increases our housing stock within the town, and then that allows other people and other business people to hopefully move into the community,” he said.

While the need is high and work is being done, it is likely the project won’t get underway for at least another couple of years as things like finding partners, feasability studies, community surveys, and more, are done.

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by Tommy Osborne

Mackenzie housing not keeping up with boom in senior population

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