WATCH ABOVE: Senior citizens at a Moose Jaw housing complex are being told several of the low-cost units aren’t being made available anymore
MOOSE JAW – Empty resident suites at a low-income seniors living complex in Moose Jaw may be converted to offices, according to a letter to residents from the Five Hills Health Region (FHHR).
The letter, seen below, says FHHR has not been filling vacant suites at Pioneer Village because it’s considering “locating some health region staff in that space” when the new Moose Jaw hospital opens this summer.
“I want to reassure you that we do not plan to ask anyone to move out of Pioneer Village. We are looking into all of our options to see whether or not we need to locate any staff at Pioneer Village,” wrote Bert Linklater, FHHR senior vice president of operations on November 26.
At $200 per month for a base unit, it might be the best deal in Moose Jaw. The going rate for a one-bedroom apartment is more than $700 per month, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
“Every dollar we put into renovating that space is dollars we don’t put into equipment in the hospital or long term care facilities.”
The units have been off the market for about a year.
“Housing isn’t our primary business. We’re in the health care business,” Linklater said Monday, adding that the services planned for the vacant suites are not administrative offices. “They’re like home care nurses or mental health workers. People who work with people in the communities,” Linklater said.
With an aging population, critics say Five Hills should reconsider.
“The fact of the matter is that region needs spaces. Seniors need options,” said deputy NDP leader Trent Wotherspoon. “It doesn’t make any sense to be converting these important spaces into offices.
Wotherspoon suggested the offices could be located at the new Moose Jaw Regional Hospital if it had been designed to be larger.
The facility will have 25 fewer in-patient beds, with 21 more treatment rooms and one more operating rooms than the 67-year-old Moose Jaw Union Hospital. Total size will be reduced by 25,000 square feet.
FHHR says the services that would move into Pioneer Village don’t belong at a hospital because they’re not part of acute care.
Linklater said many of the vacant units more than 40 years old and need “extensive” renovations.
“Every dollar we put into renovating that space is dollars we don’t put into equipment in the hospital or long term care facilities,” Linklater said.
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A government spokesperson said, “No long term care residents in Moose Jaw will be losing their placements.” A notice to reporters also said the new Crescent View Primary Health Care will take pressure off the hospital.
As of December, 59 seniors were on a waiting list for affordable housing in Moose Jaw. Social Services said the total number of Moose Jaw residents waiting for social housing has been reduced by 73 per cent in the last two years.
Pioneer Village is divided into two sections: 24/7 nursing care for 60 long-term and 14 short-term residents at Pioneer Lodge and the low-income Pioneer Housing seniors complex, which features 24 married living suites and 37 single units.
FHHR says there is no timeline on when suites will be converted to offices, but any suites that become vacant will not be made available.
SEE BELOW: A letter to Pioneer Village residents from the Five Hills Health Region
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