Monthly Bulletin
January 2024 – NEWS, INITIATIVES, AND EVENTS
Open Houses at our Seniors Lodges!
Despite the freezing cold, we held a
successful Open House in Canmore on
January 14. We estimate that around a
fifth of our target audience in the region
(those interested in, or appropriate for
lodge living) attended and received the
information they were looking for. If
you missed it, don’t worry, you can contact us at (403) 678-5922 or
wait for our next event in the new year.
Please stay tuned for information about future events!
You or someone you care about can age in comfort and dignity in the
community at our affordable, and caring seniors’ lodges. Our lodges
serve independent seniors, where we do the cooking and cleaning,
allowing our residents to focus on living well. Residents can arrange to
receive Home Care services in the lodges, but otherwise we do not offer
healthcare programming except in our DSL wing.
Designated Supportive Living (DSL) Operations
The new program delivers public DSL care to the region and helps keep
seniors close to their loved ones and supports in the community longer.
The first floor, which will be operated as a secure dementia wing, has
yet to open pending hiring. We are working with SE Health on
recruitment strategies, including a collaboration on employee housing,
and expect to welcome the first residents in the coming months.
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BVRH Employee Housing
We started to offer a small amount of housing to staff over the last few
years and are excited to announce that we will expand the program in
2024 with housing on the Bow River Lodge site and a future house
purchase off site. The very tight labour market, along with high costs of
housing faced by our employees and the fact that we must maintain
critical staffing levels to serve our vulnerable residents requires us to
remain able to compete for qualified workers. At the same time, our
vision statement and one of strategic goals seek to improve supports,
including some housing options, for our employees, because we are an
employer of excellence!
PROGRAM OCCUPANCY RATES
Bow River Lodge – NSL 95%
Bow River Lodge – DSL 47%
Cascade House 79%
Bow River Homes 100%
Mount Edith House 100%
Community Housing 100%
Rent Supplement 100%
SPECIAL PROJECTS
This is Home (Phase 3+)
Considering stubborn uncertainty in the interest rate markets, rising
construction costs and challenges aligning GOA and CMHC funding,
we will submit our project proposal to Alberta Seniors, Community,
and Social Supports in 2024. This will allow us to develop greater
certainty toward future capital and operational sustainability.
These projects, if approved, will refresh much of our Community and
Seniors’ Independent Housing stock while adding different types and
affordability levels of housing to the region in Canmore and perhaps
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elsewhere. We hope that the GOA will appreciate and be able to
approve the opportunity here and that we will be able to collaborate
with them, the Town of Canmore, and ideally other Housing Agencies
to address some of the housing crisis in the Bow Valley.
RESOURCES
• If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 911.
• For 24/7 nurse advice and general health information for Albertans
information on diseases, treatments, staying well, and healthcare services
dial 811.
• For 24/7 community program & service information, including
affordability programming in the Bow Valley dial 211.
• If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 988.
ABOUT BOW VALLEY REGIONAL HOUSING
Bow Valley Regional Housing (BVRH) is a Housing Management
Body (HMB) serving the Government of Alberta and the Bow
Valley Region. HMB operational funding sources vary. Tenants pay
accommodation fees. Those fees are subject to affordability limits,
which prevent them from fully covering the costs of operations.
Provincial grants and municipal ratepayer requisitions subsidize
seniors lodge deficits, while the province also subsidizes deficits in
independent seniors and community housing.
As the HMB for the Bow Valley region, BVRH is responsible for
social housing, as well as affordable supportive living
accommodation for seniors throughout Kananaskis Country, the
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Bow Corridor, the MD of Bighorn, and all of Banff National Park,
an area covering about 13,500 square kilometers.
All told, we currently house, or help to house approximately 500
residents of the Bow Valley in eight permanent housing projects
encompassing 33 separate buildings.
