Hillcrest Lodge is one step closer, albeit a small one, to completing its renovation expansion plans.
On Wednesday, March 15, the provincial government announced that the Barrhead and District Social Housing Association (BDSHA) will receive $150,000 towards the planning of the project.
The funds are part of a $5.7 million fund to help organizations plan affordable housing projects. In total 14 housing projects will receive grants from the fund.
In a release, Sigurdson says “Previous governments’ underfunding left a significant wait-list for affordable housing and seniors’ lodges — it’s unacceptable. That’s why our government is working to make life better by building new housing so Albertans have a safe and affordable place to call home.”
BDSHA chief administrative officer Dorothy Clarke said while it is welcomed news, she cautioned there is still a lot of work to be done before the shovels go into the ground.
“What this means is that we will not have use our own money that we saved, to fund the construction of the project [for the preliminary work],” she said. “This is just to help us get everything we and the government needs to move on to the construction phase of the project.”
Currently BDSHA has conceptual drawings of the project, but to secure further government approvals, a needs assessment, feasibility and business plan studies as well as engineering and structure plans need to be done.
“I haven’t received the contracts yet, but in it there will be a list of documents and studies that need to be done before we go to the next step,” Clarke said.
Eventually, if all things go as planned, the BDSHA hope to complete an estimated $22 million renovation addition project, which will be completed in two stages.
The first phase would see the demolition of 50 old units in what is Hillcrest Lodge’s U wing. In order to keep the disruption to residents to a minimum both the demolition and construction in the U wing would likely be in done in two stages as well.
“What we want to do is build 90 units in total,” she said, adding the first 50 units with the north side being worked on first, followed by the south. Stage 2 would see the construction of an additional 40 units. “It’s been a long process, we’ve been working towards this for about eight years, and the original building was built in 1962.”
In addition to upgrading the aging Hillcrest facility the renovations would add a level of service that isn’t available to Barrhead area residents. In Alberta, there are four levels of supportive living (SL) classifications starting at level 2. Hillcrest is classified as SL2, which means its residents receive assistance with day-to-day chores, such as meal preparation and laundry service.
“Basically home and health care comes in at regular intervals and assists you, but they are not there 24 hours a day,” Clarke said, SL3s provide a higher level of personal care supports onsite for scheduled and unscheduled care needs according to the plan of care of the resident. “SL4 [Shepherds Care] is 24 hour care with an on call registered nurse and SL5 [W.R. Keir Care Centre] is acute care and a nurse must be onsite 24 hours a day.”
Unfortunately, Barrhead does not have any SL3 facilities, and Darrell Troock, County of Barrhead councillor and BDSHA board member said the province’s announcement is a good first step in changing that. He added a lot of work has been done to prepare for the eventuality and the association has a considerable nest egg as well as the land to be able to move forward on this project.
“We really need that extra level of care and because it’s not there sometimes couples have to be separated to get the supports they need,” he said. “To be able to have two levels all in one place will mean more people will get to stay together. This announcement is very exciting for Barrhead.”
