New affordable senior’s housing will soon be move-in ready in the village of Slocan.
Slocan City Suites is the second project for the Slocan Valley Senior’s Housing Society. Society President Rita Moir is excited to see the project near completion and invites the public out to Thursday’s grand opening. “We’re holding this grand opening, we’ll call it a soft grand opening now because we can’t do it once the tenants move in and of course the weather is about to change soon. So, we wanted to have a celebration of all the work people have done and let people peak into a few of the suites.”
It’s been four years in the making and is funded by BC Housing and the Columbia Basin Trust with significant local fundraising efforts.
Moir describes what kind of impact the affordable seniors’ housing will have for the new residents. “For seniors to live in a walkable village where there’s grocery stores, post office, restaurants, the Legion which is like the community hall. The rail trail is right there and also the lake, so it really is a social place for people to be without having to be able to drive.”
More of this housing is greatly needed within the Slocan Valley, according to Moir. “In the Slocan Valley we have a population of about 5000 and half of the people are 50 and over. And so far, before Slocan City Suites was built, there was only 20 units available for that population of seniors.”
Thursday’s event will kick off at 5:30 at the Legion with a three block hike in tribute to the Hike or Bike for Housing fundraiser two years ago. The ceremonial hike starts out with greetings from Betty Windsor (who also kicked off the hike two years ago), bagpipes and a special carriage conveying Lydia Kania, the oldest hiker, who has raised about $16,000 for construction of both Passmore Lodge 20 years ago and now the Slocan City Suites.
The three new quadraplexes are located at 709 Hume Street. Residents will be moving in between October to December. All are rented out except for the specially disabled suite.If interested you can call 250-226-7115.
