cl-atikokan

It’s a go! CMHC will back Aspen Court Senior Living project

Wed, 14 May 2025 15:18:29 GMT

CMHC will underwrite the Aspen Court Senior Housing project here.

“Construction should start in the fall,” said Jim Turner, executive director of Community Living Atikokan, the agency behind the project.

The agency was actually caught by surprise, at least a little bit, when the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. reached out with the news.

“With all the COVID-19 stuff going on, we thought everything would be on hold. But no, CMHC staff were working from home, so our application kept moving forward.”

CMHC has agreed to underwrite the entire project cost of over $12 million (contingent, of course, upon Community Living completing its due diligence). That too was something of a surprise. Community Living, after looking at how CMHC had backed similar projects in other locations, had expected that it would have to cover up to twenty percent of project costs.

“I think that speaks to the quality of the application and the need here,” said Turner. “[Getting full backing] was a huge win for us.”

Community Living will have to raise about $200,000 in contributions to demonstrate community buy-in on the project. (Anyone interested in helping with that effort should contact Turner, 597-2020. Community Living Atikokan does have charitable status for income tax purposes.)

It will also have to cover HST on the project up front; most of that will be refunded through the regular sales tax system.

CVG Builders has its architects working on a detailed design now, and estimates construction should take about a year.

“We continue to be impressed with CVG,” said Turner. “Their project management is spot on. They are very organized; nothing is being left to chance.”

In addition to getting fund-raising off the ground (it hopes to launch at the end of May), Community Living Atikokan is contracting to have site and soils assessments completed, and working with the Town to have the property transferred.

The revised project plan calls for one building with interior hallways and a central entrance at the former site of Elmcrest Terrace between Elm Street and Willow Road. It will include thirty-one two-bedroom units (830 square feet each) and seven one-bedroom units (670 sq.ft.). All of them will be fully accessible (i.e., wheelchair and walker friendly) and have a small patio space.

The building will have central air conditioning, a back-up generator to maintain power in the event of a blackout, a central recreation area (lounge, dining room, covered patio), a central laundry room, and a walking trail around the building with access from each unit (via the patio door).

Earlier this year Community Living put out a call for those who might be interested in living in the new development and got about seventy responses. Turner emphasized these were expressions of interest, not commitments.

“We won’t start releasing units until construction is well underway, and we will give everyone lots of notice. They will be awarded to seniors on a first come, first served basis.”

At least eleven units will be made available on a rent-geared to income basis; there will be different application requirements for those.

Senior housing project re-designed, enlarged

Wed, 14 May 2025 15:18:29 GMT

“With all the COVID-19 stuff going on, we thought everything would be on hold. But no, CMHC staff were working from home, so our application kept moving forward.”

“I think that speaks to the quality of the application and the need here,” said Turner. “[Getting full backing] was a huge win for us.”

It will also have to cover HST on the project up front; most of that will be refunded through the regular sales tax system.

CVG Builders has its architects working on a detailed design now, and estimates construction should take about a year.

“We continue to be impressed with CVG,” said Turner. “Their project management is spot on. They are very organized; nothing is being left to chance.”

“We won’t start releasing units until construction is well underway, and we will give everyone lots of notice. They will be awarded to seniors on a first come, first served basis.”

At least eleven units will be made available on a rent-geared to income basis; there will be different application requirements for those.

Provincial award for Community Living Atikokan

Wed, 14 May 2025 15:18:29 GMT

Community Living Atikokan won a provincial honour at the annual conference of the Community Living Ontario Association in Thunder Bay last month.

“Community Living Atikokan and its leadership team have continued to ‘punch above its weight’, having far more influence in the positive transformation of the developmental sector than its size would suggest. [It] has made a difference in its own community, and through its leadership, mentorship, and advocacy, in the lives of people across the province.”

That’s what one of three nominators had to say about the Atikokan organization which was ultimately deemed worthy of the James Montgomerie Community Award. It goes to an association that demonstrates leadership and innovation in furthering Community Living Ontario’s mission, goals, and vision.

“Community Living Atikokan has been committed to supporting individuals in Atikokan for the past fifty years,” said Chris Beesley, CEO of Community Living Ontario. “They have been dedicated to transforming traditional models of support to innovate person-centered and individualistic support services.”

“In pursuit of this goal, Community Living Atikokan was instrumental in the development and implementation of the From Presence to Citizenship project,” he continued. “This initiative has resulted in the engagement of over eighty agencies sharing in conversation and mentorship with the goal of sustaining person-centered services.”

Executive director Jim Turner and board members Jason Young (vice-chair) and Brian Stimson accepted the award on behalf of Community Living Atikokan. In all, fifteen CLA people were at the conference.

“This award was won by our entire team – the staff, the leadership, the board,” said Turner. “It was nice to have a northern organization win the award; I go every year and it’s always these big southern associations winning all the awards.”

From Presence to Citizenship began almost five years ago as all the Ontario organizations supporting people with developmental disabilities started to take a new approach in how they served their members. The basic effort was to become a member-centred service – instead of managing people, Community Living organizations started helping their members lead fuller lives of their own choosing.

It has been a challenging path, but also a rewarding one.

Turner realized associations needed a more direct way of working together – of sharing resources, best practices, and knowledge.

“As soon as I started talking about the idea, ten other organizations jumped on board,” he said. They went to the province and won special support to create an information sharing network and develop new ideas and methods for helping association members become fully involved in their communities.

In effect, the project became a gigantic professional development exercise for the thousands of Ontarians who work with people who have a developmental disability.

Turner said that at least part of the idea for the project came from the strong sense of community he found in Atikokan when he first came here a decade ago.

“There is a real culture of inclusion here – even when compared to other northern Ontario towns. I noticed that right away,” he said.

Turner was also pleased Community Living Ontario brought the conference and annual general meeting – its sixty-sixth – to Thunder Bay.

“Community Living Thunder Bay executive director Lisa Foster and I have been lobbying for it to come North,” he said. “We wanted everyone to experience our culture and understand what we face travel wise here.”

It also gave this association, and others in the Northwest, the opportunity to take advantage of the many talented people Community Living Ontario brings in for the conference.

Befriend

Nick Maisey, the Australian founder of befriend.org, was the guest speaker, and also ran a workshop in conjunction with the conference. He was in Atikokan for several days after the conference to hold training sessions with all of the CLA staff; several staffers from the Kenora and Red Lake associations came down for the sessions, too.

Befriend.org isn’t specifically about working with people with disabilities – it’s more about challenging the worldwide epidemic of loneliness.

It started with small neighbourhood gatherings that were open to all, and soon had a team of people with diverse skills and experiences, willing to take on an ambitious purpose: “We exist to spark human connection between people from diverse backgrounds, to grow inclusive communities in which all people are valued and belong.”

“The key to living a long, happy, healthy life is good relationships, and that the strongest human societies are those that value, embrace and unlock the uniqueness of each person,” says befiend.org.

In a few short years in Perth, Australia, it connected 12,000 people, and began training ‘community inclusion ambassadors’ in the fine art of brining people together.

One of the goals of community living organizations is to help members develop social connections, so the the Befriend program ties in perfectly.

Community Living Atikokan works with town and developer to bring senior housing to Atikokan

Wed, 14 May 2025 15:18:29 GMT

Community Living Atikokan ready to develop 30-unit seniors’ housing complex at former Elmcrest site

Wed, 14 May 2025 15:18:29 GMT

Community Living Atikokan hopes to break ground on a thirty-unit seniors’ housing complex here this coming spring.

“This year marks Community Living Atikokan’s fiftieth anniversary… and to commemorate the occasion CLA has undertaken the development of a housing project with the hope of giving back to the community that has supported up for so many years,” CLA executive director Jim Turner told Council Tuesday.

He was there to officially request Council’s support for the project. Specifically, CLA is asking for in-kind support in the form of a donation of the land, the waiving of some service fees, and a temporary reduction in property taxes once the units are opened.

“This involves no cash outlay from the Town,” he said. “The project’s viability and ultimate success is dependent upon this support.”

CLA, working through the National Housing Strategy and with the Canadian Housing Mortgage Corp., would hold the mortgage (approximately $9 million), and would manage the property as the tenants’ landlord.

The project has been in the works for some time, and Community Living Atikokan is ready to proceed. A developer with experience in the region is on board, CLA has engaged consultants and legal advisors, and CLA has had at least one in-camera meeting with Council about the project.

There is a fair degree of overlap between the CLA board and the Town: CAO Jason Young, Mayor Dennis Brown, and Councillor Brian Stimson are all members of the CLA board. Council moved in-camera to discuss the request for the land and other in-kind considerations (it is a property matter, and thus can be moved to closed session); all three CLA board members declared a conflict and left the meeting at that point. Treasurer Brandy Coulson is leading the staff handling of the matter.

Councillor Liz Shine, who chaired the meeting after the mayor left, said Wednesday that Council would consider a resolution regarding the request at tonight’s meeting.

Highlights:
• 22 two-bedroom units (830 sq. ft.) and 8 one-bedroom units (670 sq. ft)
• All will be ground-level, barrier-free facilities
• Each will have two entrance/exits, a parking space, and laundry
• At least thirty percent (nine units) will be rent-geared-to-income units

Needed here

The Town and Atikokan Economic Development Corp. have made several attempts to put together a seniors’ housing development over the past five years. Such a development would go a long way to easing the housing shortage here and offer seniors who want to stay in town a manageable way to do that. But those efforts have come up empty because ultimately the Town would end up having to hold (or at least guarantee) the mortgage, a move which would limit its ability to finance needed infrastructure work on roads and Town facilities.

Community Living Atikokan, which has been in the property business for decades providing accommodations for its members, is big enough to take on the project, and has the necessary property management experience to do it effectively.

“We are not doing this to make money,” said Turner. “We are a non-profit charitable organization; we are in this because the town needs it. Seniors are leaving Atikokan because of the lack of housing options for them here.”

AEDC executive director Garry McKinnon said that agency has been working to assist CLA with the project since it was conceived, providing the studies and surveys it has conducted over the years.

Architect’s conceptual drawing of the layout of a two-bedroom unit.

“I think it’s great – it’s going to be a good thing for the community,” he said.

CLA’s Turner told us the only concern he’s heard during the development of the proposal is the location of the project. Past surveys of seniors here indicated they would prefer to live downtown, or close to it.

“But there just isn’t one spot where we could do anything of this size in the downtown area. We’d have to split it up over three different sites, which would really push the costs up,” he said.

Higher costs would mean higher rents.

Architect’s conceptual drawing of the layout of a one-bedroom unit.

CVG Builders

CVG Builders is a design-build contractor based in Cochrane, Ontario. Established in 1975, it has worked all over Northern Ontario. It built the 32-suite retirement living complex in Cochrane and the 36-suite complex in Marathon. It has also been lead on a number of other high profile projects, including Collège Boréal in Timmins, École Catholique Nouveau Regard, a K-12 school in Cochrane, and the Veterans Affairs Canada Ontario regional office in Kirkland Lake.

CVG is also working on a fifty-unit seniors complex for Conmee.

“The proximity of that is a benefit to our project, which would be built in conjunction with the Conmee project to bring down our construction costs,” said Turner.

The company has assisted CLA in its applications to CMHC and the National Housing Strategy. Community Living has also been working with a consulting firm, Commerce Management Group, and a Toronto law firm that specializes in construction projects (Rousseau Mazzuca LLP), to help prepare the CMHC application.

Finally, Turner noted that the conceptual plan shows a green area adjoining the property.

“This isn’t included in the financial plan; what we want to do is apply to the fifty or so Ontario foundations that support projects for seniors,” he said. “We’ve done the research and we know who supports this kind of project.”