As more seniors retire in Prince George, new job created to help find age-appropriate housing

The Prince George Council of Seniors has hired a housing information co-ordinator to help deal with the growing number of people looking for age-appropriate homes in the city.

Susan Tapp's job will be to keep track of housing options available in the city and provide advice to seniors and their families as they search for a new place to live.

"We're going to look at what their needs are. What are their interests? Where do they want to be situated? And just give them a little more information to help them go through that," she said.

As many as one in four residents of Prince George could be senior citizens by 2038, according to the city's official community plan, and, already, the number of people aged 65 and older in the Greater Prince George area has grown from 7,860 in 2006 to 12,210 in 2016, according to Statistics Canada data.

That's created challenges, as much of the city's housing stock was built with young families in mind, said Lola-Dawn Fennell, executive director of the Prince George Council of Seniors.

"Back in the '60s and '70s, people finished their working careers and they moved south. They left Prince George," she said.

"That's not happening anymore. In fact, seniors are returning to Prince George, because in the past, they've gone to Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, wherever, and it's expensive to live down there. So they're coming home, and there's not enough specific seniors housing available."

In her first week on the job, Tapp said she's already heard of a number of innovative solutions seniors are coming up with in order to continue living in the community without moving into a care home.

"A couple was telling me that they were changing their home [to] bring in two other couples that they are going to live with," she said.

"They're becoming their own little community, so they can help each other. If someone has surgery, there's going to be someone there for them for that 24 hours, so they're going to be able to take care of each other's needs."

Tapp hopes to hear more creative ideas when she hosts an "outside the box" housing options forum in Prince George on Oct. 29. She'll use the information collected at the forum to assist her in lobbying for more appropriate housing solutions in the city when talking to government and health care officials.

"There's a lot of really smart seniors," she said. "They know their needs, and they see there has to be a change."

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