Seniors living in Vernon will soon have access to 48 new affordable rental homes, with construction underway on a four-storey apartment building located in the city core.

“Seniors helped build our province, and they deserve quality housing options that let them live independently in their community,” said David Eby, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing. “Building affordable homes for people across the province continues to be our priority. I’m excited for the seniors who will be moving into their new homes in Vernon.”

The housing project will provide 42 one-bedroom homes and six accessible one-bedroom homes for moderate and low-income seniors, including those with a disability. It will be operated by Vernon Pensioner’s Accommodation Society (VPAS).

Located at 3400 Coldstream Ave., the McCulloch II building will be in the downtown area, close to amenities such as transit, grocery stores and a seniors’ centre.

VPAS is receiving $5.2 million from the Province’s Building BC: Community Housing Fund to build the new homes.

The society provided the land for the project. The non-profit initiated the housing project following a housing study conducted in 2018 that showed a shortage of seniors housing in Vernon. The society had received a significant number of applications from seniors seeking affordable housing, which motivated it to apply to BC Housing for project funding.

“VPAS has been exploring and struggling to find ways to help alleviate the huge waiting list for people in need of low income/affordable housing for the past 20 years,” said Ray Ivey, president, VPAS. “Thanks to the anonymous support, the City of Vernon, the Province’s Community Housing Fund and BC Housing, we are very pleased to have finally received approval and funding for these much-needed 48 new affordable suites to be constructed right next to McCulloch Court. Special thanks to all staff, directors and everyone who contributed to moving this forward.”

The City of Vernon and the Regional District of North Okanagan have contributed a total of $404,000 in grants through waivers of development cost charges.

Seniors are expected to move into their new homes in summer 2022.

Including this new project, the Province is working in partnership to deliver approximately 460 new units of housing in Vernon.

Quotes:

Harwinder Sandhu, MLA for Vernon-Monashee –

“Our seniors have dedicated their lives to build our communities and our country. It is reassuring to see more supports, especially the housing coming to our community, which is focused on our seniors.”

Victor Cumming, mayor, City of Vernon –

“Vernon’s rental vacancy rate is currently hovering around 1%, which emphasizes the need to find collaborative and sustainable solutions for new housing projects to match a variety of needs. So, we are thrilled to see the results of this partnership between the Province and the VPAS to get shovels in the ground for the development of this much-needed affordable housing development for Vernon seniors. The City of Vernon was pleased to assist by waiving the development cost charges for the project.”

Quick Facts: 

• The Community Housing Fund is part of the Province’s 10-year, $7-billion housing plan.
  • It is an investment of $1.9 billion to build more than 14,000 affordable rental homes for low- and moderate-income families and individuals over 10 years.
  • More than 6,100 of these homes are already open, under construction or in development.
• The Community Housing Fund supports mixed-income buildings where 50% of the units are for households with annual incomes up to $64,000, 30% of the units are for households with incomes up to approximately $74,000, and 20% of the units are for households with very low incomes (including those on income or disability assistance).

Learn More:

A map showing the location of all announced provincially funded housing projects in B.C. is available online: https://www.bchousing.org/homes-for-BC

To learn about the steps the Province is taking to tackle the housing crisis and deliver affordable homes for British Columbians, visit: https://workingforyou.gov.bc.ca/