New assisted living home approved for Buffalo Hotel tenants

Christine Stewart, executive director for CMHA Central Alberta says she’s ecstatic to see the much-needed project going forward.

“I think it really speaks to the work we’ve done as a community and the need for affordable housing in general,” says Stewart. “I really feel that the committee members spoke to that and spoke to their understanding of the need to do more. It’s a perfect location in terms of geography and the surrounding neighbours in my opinion, and the commission seemed to agree with that.”

Stewart says their tenants currently residing at the Buffalo Hotel, a 39-unit aging facility downtown, will notice significant upgrades when they move to the new location.

“The new facility does have a full kitchen, and it does have a large lobby area much bigger than what we have right now for people to congregate,” says Stewart. “I think having the (court) yard in the back with only access to tenants will be huge. Often times people congregate in our yard that aren’t tenants and it’s very difficult to sometimes know, and so I think there will be a lot less controversy I think if people are coming through our front gate.”

In addition, Stewart says the new location will provide them with a basement where they can have a large boardroom and install an entire Curves gym set given to them through a community donor and allowing for further physical fitness activities to be supervised by staff.

One letter of concern regarding the proposed development was received by the City’s Inspections and Licensing department. It came from nearby Dairy Queen Owner Rob Hamill, who indicated his current concerns over crime, vandalism, panhandling and safety for his staff in the area.

“We have security cameras, I think there’s 16 throughout the building,” says Stewart. “If people are outside loitering, they are not our tenants because our tenants will be inside or in our courtyard and the people hanging out outside will be asked to leave.”

Facility staff will assist with calling RCMP or EMT when needed; remind tenants of the rules; enforce guest management; provide medication reminders; monthly room checks for damages, and other tasks.

“I would just like to remind people that our tenants are not homeless,” she explains. “Our tenants have a place to live, they pay their rent and they come home and they’re guests come in the building with them. But we do have a significant wait list for housing. I believe that our homeless count of people signed up for housing right now is around 80 people.”

Enhancements to the building’s exterior are also proposed, including construction of a breezeway on the ground floor, removal of decorative peaks, and minor painting. The purpose of the breezeway is said to control access to the units through one main point of entry and in doing so, CMHA staff will be able to monitor individuals coming and going.

The number of parking stalls on site will also be reduced and reconfigured from the current 97 to 52.

Stewart hopes the investment made by Bill Robinson from Sorento Custom Homes to make this project possible inspires other investors to consider the same.

“It’s just important to keep at the front of our minds that we really want more commitment from local entities and investors,” she implores. “I hope that this works well, and I’ll do everything in my power to make it hugely successful and make the neighbours happy and make sure that Bill and his investor group are happy with the outcome. I feel that we need two more of these types of facilities in the community.”

Stewart anticipates current tenants of the Buffalo to move into the new facility by the end of November.

by Sheldon Spackman

New assisted living home approved for Buffalo Hotel tenants

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