New Developments Could Make Senior Residences More Affordable in Ottawa
There was some good news reported for the future senior citizens of Ottawa recently. The City Council is set to meet about a proposal to increase it’s budget for affordable senior housing. If the proposal is approved by the city council Ottawa would end up with a much bigger budget for senior housing making Ottawa senior residences a lot more affordable. The proposal seeks to increase the city’s budget on senior housing to $48.2 million increasing the present budget substantially. Currently, Ottawa’s budget for housing seniors and people with disabilities is at $5.4 million. That would translate to around a $42 million increase in the budget, a very huge leap indeed.
The dramatic increase in the allocation for seniors was due in large part to the Investment in Affordable Housing Program. The program which is funded jointly by the province and feds aims to increase affordable housing for all. The program will distribute $801 million around Ontario giving it’s local government a good reason to think about how to spend and budget the money wisely. If the proposal is improved, it’s definitely a great step in the right direction. The city has already proposed a $ 6.9 million contingency fund which would be used to make sure everything runs smoothly. This is another addition to the already approved $2.2 million in the budget, with another $2.3 million also ready to be used from the housing reserve fund.
If all goes according to plan, the local government will be able to construct more than 300 new and affordable residences in and around the city. This will surely help shore up the 10,224 houses that were on the city’s waiting list to be occupied at the close of 2014. This was 21% an increase of 3% from the 18% of the waiting list in 2011. The increase was an indication of the fast increasing needs of Ottawa’s senior citizens. The city has definitely had to keep pace with the demands of it’s senior population. It has already approved of at least 20% of all new funds be spent for senior citizens. Ottawa has to respond this way because population surveys have shown that one out of five Ottawa residents would have reached the age of 65 years or more by the year 2031. The city knows that it’s senior citizens have growing needs and is responding to them quite admirably.