If the Manitoba government is offering Flin Flon a choice between more low-income housing and additional seniors’ units, city council will take the latter.
The province has confirmed it will build more seniors’ housing in the community but appears to have abandoned plans to replace 14 low-income family units lost in 2012.
Coun. Ken Pawlachuk said Tuesday that council previously told the province that the city’s preference is for more seniors’ housing.
Coun. Colleen McKee said there is a greater need for seniors’ housing, adding that the last time council met with the housing minister, the waiting list for seniors was much longer than for low-income residents.
Coun. Karen MacKinnon said a 2012 survey singled out seniors’ housing as the top community need in terms of the senior population.
According to the province, the waiting list for low-income government housing in Flin Flon stands at 14. For seniors’ housing, it’s in the range of at least 50, according to former mayor George Fontaine.
In a recent letter, Housing Minister Peter Bjornson confirmed the province will open more seniors’ housing, but he mentioned no plans to replace low-income units lost when 4 Hemlock Drive was condemned two years ago.
In the letter, Bjornson said the seniors’ housing will most likely consist of a new or refurbished apartment complex at 4 Hemlock Drive.
Bjornson wrote that after problems with 4 Hemlock were discovered, the community, through “informal consultations,” expressed a need for more seniors’ housing.
Pawlachuk said the city was told the decision to go with seniors’ housing at 4 Hemlock has not been finalized.
In 2012 and 2013, provincial officials told The Reminder the low-income units of 4 Hemlock would be rebuilt either at the same site or an alternate location such as Aspen Grove.
At one point officials said they hoped to begin construction in the fall of 2013, but that never materialized.
