Affordable housing info session being hosted by town’s senior citizens advisory committee

An event later this month will address a number of possibilities and topics related to the elderly population and housing.

It is being hosted by the Town of Fort Erie’s senior citizens advisory committee at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 71 on November 28 at 1 p.m.

Speakers from Niagara Region, Fort Erie Lions Club, and others will be in attendance.

Ward 4 Councillor Joan Christensen, council’s representative on the advisory committee, said there will be lots of information available.

“It’s going to cover a number of facets of affordable housing,” she said.

The Ridgeway councillor said both times she has run for elected office she has heard from older people who say they can’t afford rent locally, or that there is a lack of options in town.

This has led to many relocating to other places where there is greater rental supply available for a better price.

She also said many seniors are “house poor,” meaning they have a home and pay the bills, but want something else that isn’t available.

“There aren’t many options to sell and downsize in Fort Erie,” she said.

A program called SpacesShared, which involves students who are vetted through a screening process, paying rent in a home and helping with tasks, will be part of the information at the upcoming event.

The Willows, a private retirement home in the former Clarion Hotel, will also participate in the event.

Also part of the discussion will be the Fort Erie Lions Club’s Douglas Heights project, a planned new apartment complex adjacent to the 56-unit building finished in 1991.

The build’s entire estimated cost is about $28 million and a fundraising campaign was recently launched to support it moving ahead.

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