The Mountain View Seniors' Housing board will be sending a letter to the province expressing interest in a grant initiative that, if successful, could see a 100-bed seniors' housing facility built in Sundre.During last week's MVSH monthly meeting, held Thursday at Sundre's Foothills Lodge, Sundre mayor and MVSH board member Annette Clews put forward a motion that the letter be sent regarding the province's Affordable Supportive Living Initiative (ASLI) grant.The initiative provides grants for the construction of seniors' housing facilities. Under the ASLI program, the provincial government is providing $67 million for a total 600 new living spaces, with the specific amount of each of six grants to be determined later.Although the deadline to apply for the 2011-12 grant is Nov. 4, the MVSH board decided to send the letter of interest instead of making a formal grant application at this time.Clews said sending the letter will let the province know the town is interested in a new facility, but will also give a new town seniors' housing committee a chance to examine Sundre's exact long-term needs.ìWe are sending the letter to the province to let them know that we are interested in doing a project, however we want to make sure it is the right project for our community,î said Clews.ìWe don't have enough time before the deadline to actually get that (application) done. We're hopeful that the grant will still be available. We want to make sure we have the right facility for Sundre.îThe Sundre seniors' housing committee has already identified the need for more seniors' care in the Sundre area, including assisted living and long-term care. Now the committee will examine what facility Sundre would like to build using the grant money.ìIt all depends on what process we use to decide what kind of facility is needed in Sundre, so that would actually be discussed at the committee to decide what process we can use to determine what is best for our community needs,î Clews said.ìDefinitely we will know within the next year what kind of facility is best for our community. We already know that more seniors' housing is needed at all levels, whether it's low income, rental, lodge or long-term care. We know there is a need for all types.îMountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie, who is a member of the MVSH building committee, said the fact the call for applications under the ASLI grant program only came in late September did not leave enough time to make a proper application.ìThe timeline from September to November to put something together is too short,î said Beattie. ìIt's our understanding that if we put in this letter of interest that the province will recognize that we are interested.ìThe bottom line is we want to make sure that we have a good, well completed application with all the background we need. You just don't want to rush into these things looking like you are unprepared.ìWe want to make sure we make a good application and one that we can work with and one the government can work with, and recognize that we are not only serious about it but we are also prepared to do the work to back that up.îAsked if the board is concerned that by not meeting the Nov. 4 deadline to make a formal application Sundre could lose out on the grant, Beattie said, ìI guess there's always a worry, but that's a chance we are willing to take to make sure that we have a good application.îThe Sundre Hospital and Care Centre currently has 15 long-term care beds, and the Foothills Lodge has 43 residents.
