March 2024 – BVRH Monthly Bulletin

BVRH Bulletin – March 2024 – Reg format

NEWS, INITIATIVES, AND EVENTS
Lodge Open Houses
We held an Open House at Cascade House in Banff on Saturday, March
23. We will hold an Open House at Bow River Lodge in Canmore on
Saturday, April 6 between 1 pm and 2 pm. Please join us and meet our
friendly staff! We will hold Open Houses periodically throughout the
year, so please join us if you can!
Social Housing Budget 2024
The province released their 2024 budget earlier this month and it held
some good news of our housing programs in the Bow Valley. The
budget provides additional funding for social housing, continuing care
and lodge operations, as well as significant increases to the rent
supplement program. As a result, BVRH will be able to address more
maintenance needs in our community housing portfolio, offset some of
the rising costs in our Lodge and DSL operations, and increase the
monthly rent supplement cap from $600 to $650 while also adding
more clients to the program.
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 ongoing, 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.
The province received approximately $500 million in funding requests
in 2023 for which they had $80 million to spend. They have
approximately $405 million total for the program over the next few
years.
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
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
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.