The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Mayor George Fontaine is urging older residents to complete a survey that will give Flin Flon 'ammunition' in the 'battle' for seniors housing. Age Friendly Flin Flon is distributing a survey, open to all area residents aged 50 and older, designed to discern what type of housing is needed locally. 'If people don't take part in it, well then you won't be able to complain if there's (no housing) there because you won't have done your part,' Mayor Fontaine said at last week's city council meeting. Efforts are underway to secure provincial government funding to help build rent-capped housing units for Flin Flon seniors on fixed incomes. But Mayor Fontaine said the province has no data suggesting such housing is needed here, something the survey aims to rectify. 'We know full well from all anecdotal reports that we get that we are very much in need and have been for a while,' he said, 'and it's only going to get worse and worse in terms of, we have a very high population of seniors who would like to stay in the community. They won't be able to all stay in their own homes, so we're looking for government assistance to build facilities where people can live.' See 'House...'on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 Since the province will only help build housing for seniors with household incomes of just over $48,000 or less, a key question on the survey relates to yearly earnings. It also asks for details such as age, whether the person owns their own home and what type of housing they are seeking. Survey results will be compiled into a report to be shared with provincial funding officials. 'This is the ammunition we need if we are going to go to battle over housing, and we are in a battle over housing,' Mayor Fontaine said. The survey is open to all older residents in Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach, Cranberry Portage and the surrounding cottage areas. While a future housing project may be build on the Manitoba side of the border, seniors living in Saskatchewan may one day find they need those accommodations. Mayor Fontaine cautioned residents to fill out just one survey per household. It is recommended that people include their full name, to give the survey added validity, but anonymous surveys are being accepted. Write letter In addition to the survey, Mayor Fontaine is asking seniors who have had difficulty locating suitable housing to write about their experiences and send the letter to City Hall. Those letters will also become part of the lobbying effort for housing. 'It's important that those stories be told,' said Mayor Fontaine. Response to the survey, released on Feb. 1, has so far satisfied organizers. As of last Thursday, Feb. 7, about 120 surveys had been returned. The survey appeared on the back page of the Feb. 1 Reminder. Copies are also available for pickup at City Hall, The Reminder, the Flin Flon Rec Office, The Orange Toad, the Aqua Centre and the Co-op express checkout. Those are also the locations to return completed surveys. The NDP government helped build the 12-suite Evergreen Manor seniors complex in 2008, but last year declined to support a proposed 36-unit complex overlooking Ross Lake. Approval of that project would have bolstered the feasibility of a separate 24-unit complex, open to wealthier seniors, that might have been built without government assistance.
