Seniors housing report demands change

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Older people in this province on low incomes should be given more government support, according to BC’s seniors advocate.

In a wide-ranging new report, Isobel Mackenzie says she would like to see the government increase its subsidy levels.

She also suggests the government allow low-income home owners to put off repair, hydro, and other costs until they sell their homes, at which point the province would recoup those funds.

“It’s not going to be my voice alone that is going to make these changes. It’s going to be the collective voice of not just seniors, but society, that’s going to make these changes,” says Mackenzie.

“I think the government does want to address the concerns. How they will, when they will, the degree to which they will — I cannot predict,” she adds.

The report also includes recommendations for redesigning what assisted living looks like, and suggests changes so seniors who want residential care can get there faster.

Health Minister Terry Lake agrees with the findings, calling some of the recommendations interesting, but he says it’ll take some time for all of them to be implemented.

Lake isn’t sure how the idea of deferring payments would work. “And may be really helpful in keeping them in their homes longer, but that will require a little more, I think, research and discussions.”

“We’ll do a little work, of course, and then when the economy grows, revenues increase, perhaps this is something that we can move on, but it will take a little more research.”

Lake wouldn’t nail down a timeline of how long it would take to act on all of the recommendations.

That doesn’t surprise Maurine Karagianis, critic for the NDP, who’s unsure anything will change. “The government likes to say, ‘Yes, we’re going to take action and then they don’t do anything. The proof will be in the action the government takes and I’ll be looking to see what real measures they put in place.”

“So often [the provincial government] has failed to implement recommendations or they fail to go to the lengths that are required to make real changes. Lots of seniors are living in real hardship and so the government has to take action very quickly and I’ll be looking to see what kind of action they take.”

The current session of the legislature wraps up in about a week, which Karagianis says will make it more difficult to monitor the provincial government.

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