Calgary non-profit Silvera for Seniors marked a milestone on Sept. 18, as their Livingstone Terrace affordable senior living apartment building was unveiled to the public and the media.

The 47-unit building is not yet complete though, as plans were revealed by Silvera for an additional 16 units to be added to the building through new construction and proposals for more seniors apartments in the future surrounding the Livingstone community site in far northwest Calgary.

The building was made up of 35 non-market rental units based on 30 per cent of a senior’s income, alongside 12 below-market rate units at a fixed percentage below the median rental rate for Calgary.

Silvera for Seniors CEO Arlene Adamson said that the units were filled in four months, far below the usual year-long time it takes to place that many seniors into housing.

“Let’s keep in mind that they have other needs as well, and so for us… it’s really important that we maintain that rent structure.”

She said that the makeup of the community was one of mixed-incomes, that was further supported by Brookfield Residential waiving the mandatory homeowners association fees for the residents, so long as the rents remain below market value—an additional savings of $467 per year for seniors.

‘Dent’ in long-waiting lists, says Silvera CEO

Although Adamson said that the completion of the first Livingstone Terrace building was a good day for Calgary, the demand for seniors housing continues to far outstrip the ability of organizations like hers to provide it.

The waiting list for seniors housing through Silvera was 993 as of Wednesday.

“That is 993 people who have no home, no options, and need options of affordable housing. We as a city, cannot afford to have people dying on that wait list. This is urgent,” Adamson said.

“We have an elderly population here that needs to be able to have safe, affordable housing. Whilst we built these 47, that waitlist grew. So, this is a dent. This is a dent in that list. And there’s so much more.”

She said that part of that demand could be met immediately by plans the organization has in place, with shovel-ready projects that require funding to start—either from all orders of government, or through private donations.

“We have a vision for sure, and within five years we have to build another 500 units. We’ve got two projects in the ready, and we have one right behind that. So we’ve got no shortage of opportunity, and the commitment can be put to work immediately if donations come in,” Adamson said.

Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian said that investment had to continue to meet the large need for housing that extended beyond just Silvera’s waiting list.

“Council made some significant investments in affordable housing, and we have to continue to do that. Every time we don’t do that, we’re going to have more and more wait lists. As we’ve heard from Silvera, they have 900 people on a wait list. We know Calgary housing company has a waitlist of about 5,000 people,” Mian said.

“Those folks need a place to go. We don’t want people living on the streets. We have to continue to tackle this challenge.”

She said that a challenge for all orders of government to meet was to provide the capital needed to build the projects, and that after that they could and can be self-sustaining.

Every dollar put towards capital projects makes operations more self-sustaining

The support, even small compared to the multi-millions required to complete the Livingstone Terrace building, could make a big difference in what Silvera can do operationally, Adamson said.

“We know these are hard times for everybody, but every dollar counts. We need to all collectively dig deep and go, ‘how can I contribute?’ If you’re a monthly donor for $5, great. If you’re an entrepreneurial leader, if you can step it to the table, that’ll allow us not only to support capital development and get more homes built, it also reduces the pressure on us for debt that we then can get on to the next project and build more housing,” she said.

“Your first dollar in helps us down the chain of more housing in this city.”

The $20.2 million Livingstone Terrace project was funded by $7.7 million through the Government of Canada’s Rapid Housing Initiative program, $7 million by Silvera, $3 million by the Canada Housing Mortgage Corporation co-investment loan program, and $680,000 by the Government of Alberta.

Phase two, the additional 16 units, are awaiting final funding agreements.

Jason Nixon, Alberta’s Seniors, Community and Social Services, said that the opening of Livingston Terrace was an essential part of fulfilling the province’s goal to provide housing for all Albertans.

He said that there was a $9 billion plan between the federal government, provincial government, and municipal governments across Alberta to address housing.

“That is $9 billion already committed to between now and 2030 to create 25,000 new units. Our portion of that is $840 million over the next two and a half years or so, to do about another 6,000 affordable housing units,” Minister Nixon said.

“I want to stress that when I say affordable housing, that’s not the full market, that is a very specific focus on things like fixed income seniors housing, continuing care housing, on the health care side, low-income housing, rent supplements, programs, those type of housing programs.”

Other projects that the City of Calgary and the Government of Canada funded through the Rapid Housing Initiative and were set to be opened this year, were the 35-unit Crescent Heights Hope Heights project from HomeSpace, the 29-unit Killarney project from Onward.