Supporting Alberta Seniors
Episode Stats
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170.8744
Summary
In this episode, Premier Rachel Notley and her team are joined by Seniors' Lodge Program Director, Silveria Singh, to celebrate Senior's Week in our province. They talk about the importance of seniors' lodges and the work they do to ensure they have access to safe, secure and affordable housing.
Transcript
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great week to celebrate seniors week in our province i'm excited to be here with silveria
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today and their whole team i was first off let me thank you for hosting us today and for all
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the hard work that you do making sure that we provide homes for seniors all across our province
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we strongly believe that albertans need access to safe secure and affordable homes and our
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government is committed to ensuring that that happens in fact we remain very dedicated to
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addressing the housing crisis that we see all across this country and that is why we continue
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to significantly invest in things like increasing the stock of affordable housing throughout
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the province increasing capital grants supporting our housing providers and our rental assistance
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programs we are on track right now to invest with our partners nine billion dollars between now and
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2031 to create 13 000 more affordable housing units i expect we'll be announcing more uh in
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the coming weeks we've also built 5 000 units since 2019 we continue to invest in things like
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rent supplements a quarter billion dollars we just increased our rent supplement programs to
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to help albertans as we make as we work towards increasing that stock and restoring affordability
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in our market this is all part of 5.1 billion dollars worth of affordability measures that
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the province of alberta has been investing in since the affordability crisis started
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and that is paying dividends as we see the fact that Alberta still remains the most affordable
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location in the world when it comes to housing, something that we have to maintain. We also
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continue to be very focused on red tape production and working with our municipalities to be able to
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increase things like building permits and our construction industry to make sure that their
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zoning requirements and anything that may be holding them up is moved out of the way to be
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able to make sure that they can build the highest amount of homes that we have ever built in the
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history of the province. And I'm excited to report that right now we have the most building permits
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ever issued in the history of Alberta, and we are on track to double the capacity of our
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construction industry this year alone already. Each month it continues to be a bigger and bigger
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record along the way. But a big part of that is that we have to make sure that we're providing
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homes for seniors and ensuring that they have spaces like the one that we're in here today
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And I'd like to, again, thank everybody, not only here today,
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but all of our partners across the province who work with us
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to provide seniors' homes through our Seniors' Lodge program.
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They're absolutely critical, and at the end of the day,
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you're providing tens of thousands of Albertans' homes,
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something that's very, very important to Alberta.
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I don't know if you know this, but Alberta's Senior Lodge program
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It's an essential service, and our government is committed to continuing it and supporting it as we go forward.
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It's important work, and it will continue to be a priority of our province.
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We are continually looking for ways to improve seniors' housing, though, in Alberta.
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And that's why today, Alberta is announcing that our government is increasing investment in our Lodge program.
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Budget 2024 provides $60 million in operational funding to Alberta's Lodge Assistance Program.
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that's a 20 million dollar increase from budget 2023 this funding will help cover the additional
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operating costs to ensure seniors lodge operators have the funding needed to provide their services
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to low-income seniors and given the rising costs of living and inflation this is this is an increase
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that is needed our providers are seeing the same challenges that each and every one of us is seeing
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because of the inflationary situation as the cost of everything goes up this funding is a 55
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increase per person per day to our lodge program it's a significant number and i hope that our
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lodge operators see that we hear the challenges that they're facing and continue to value their
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partnership and want to partner with them going forward to be able to create the homes that we
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need for seniors across this problem across this province seniors lodges are vibrant community
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spaces and it's crucial that they remain viable options for seniors in alberta now today's funding
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announcement is in addition to the seniors lodge review that was launched in january the panel the
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lodge review panel has been worked been hard at work reviewing the senior lodge program and
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ensuring that it meets the needs of alberta seniors they've been looking at making the
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program more sustainable and ensuring seniors can age in their communities we have an opportunity
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to smooth transition between seniors independent living options and continuing care to ensure
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seniors have access to the support when they need it and where they need it i appreciate the work of
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all our partners in this sector without them much of the great work done in seniors lodges
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and housing would not be possible we know the need is great and our government will continue
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to work hard to ensure seniors have housing that works for them today's announcement is
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an important step but only one step in improving the lives of low-income seniors across alberta
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this is real action from our government to address the needs of the seniors lodge operators
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in communities all across alberta we will continue to listen to alberta seniors and our partners to
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ensure that we have a robust and sustainable lodge program that provides opportunities
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to transition across the continuum of care again i'd like to thank silvera again for having us here
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today for this important announcement and with that i'd like to call to the podium my friend
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arlene adamson who is the ceo of silvera to say a few words about our announcement today thank you
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you very much again for having me good morning everyone and I want to welcome
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everyone to Silvera's beautiful Shaughnessy Commons our large program
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here in the southern part of the city of Calgary we operate seven supported
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living communities across our city on behalf of Calgarians thank you Minister
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for being here today, for inviting me to share a few words about the value of this investment
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in Albertans and particularly to Silvera, how much we appreciate your investment and recognition
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of the good work that's happening in the important launch program across this province
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and here for us today. Silvera plays an important role in providing affordable housing
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for Calgarians and it is a need that is growing and is ever-present as the costs continue to
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escalate. As a not-for-profit housing provider, Silvera operates in more than 1800 housing units
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across our city, of which 775 units are a part of this Lodge program that is funded by the government
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and the City of Calgary. Here at Shaughnessy, being a part of the Lodge program, we provide
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three meals, we provide daily activities, life, leisure, and learning opportunities. We provide
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sense of community if you take a look around we've got wonderful people here who are living their best
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life who have created a sense of home and sense of community and a sense of family and that's
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important in all of our communities across this province and silver is really pleased that that's
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the sense we have in all of our communities it's worth noting that the lodge program doesn't provide
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just home it is also a great employment center for calgarians with employment of 344 full-time
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and part-time employees it's about jobs and careers and opportunities for people to sustain
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their families so you know it can't go unnoticed the value of the lodge program across our province
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but particularly we certainly feel it in being able to create a career opportunity for our
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employees here at silvera today's announcement and this additional funding with the lodge assistance
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program will have a significant impact on our ability to manage the rising costs mr nixon has
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very clearly articulated what we're struggling with the the cost of utilities the cost of food
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the cost of compensation rising costs for absolutely everything and that can't be on
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the backs of our seniors only their incomes are fixed and thus the essential important investment
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that our government of alberta has made and will continue to make and this increase is significant
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to us that the seniors simply can't cover over the past few years as lodge operators we've made
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concessions in the lodge program to to deal with that cost inflation environment as our residents
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only pay half of the cost of what it takes to run the lodge program and so the government plays a
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critical role in this work at both the municipal and the provincial level and this injection and
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the advocacy that the minister has done on behalf of the lodge program has been stellar.
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Silvera has limited ability to manage those rising costs through rent and through fee
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increases so we join the minister and probably all of other operators across this province in
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celebrating this crucial investment for financial sustainability in the program. The need is great
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today but it is also growing with our rising population of those that are aging in our
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community and fortunately this announcement this announcement does just that it invests in in
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albertans today and seniors today but it also sets us up to be able to continue to serve seniors into
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the future it's necessary and it's very much appreciated i want to thank minister nixon and
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his department and legislative colleagues for making this funding increase a priority
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and furthermore for minister nixon champion for seniors and the lodge program and its renewal
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So thank you very much to you and your colleagues.
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It is an opportunity for people to stay housed in community,
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that concludes the formal part of the announcement. We will now move on to questions and answers.
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If anyone has any questions when called upon, please list your name, your outlet,
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and we'll restrict questions to one question and one follow-up. Any questions?
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My name is Catherine. I was wondering with this fund that you've got now, is it possible to cut
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This investment will help with the operating costs of the organization.
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Silvera is very aware and through the funding that is made available both from the government
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of Alberta but also the municipality, we look to renew and remodernize this building and
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So, yes, we have a view to making it even more accessible.
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These buildings were designed years ago, and they do need to be revitalized relative to greater mobility.
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So, Shaughnessy's community is one of those that we are working on currently,
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and you can look forward to continued changes and improvements to the building.
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Well, if there are no further questions, that concludes the announcement.
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And thank you everybody for joining and I hope you have a great rest of your day.