The City of Williams Lake will be getting funding through the Age-Friendly Communities Grant Program.
The City had applied for a research project to determine if a home sharing program can be implemented that would work for seniors.
“Due to the housing shortage that we have in the City of Williams Lake, we are looking at all options that may be available for housing people, and that could include home sharing program.” says Beth Veenkamp, Economic Development Officer for the City.
Programs similar to this has already been put into practice in Ontario, so the City will research and see how they can make that work in Williams Lake.
Veenkamp went on to say that one of the challenges they face is that a lot of seniors are living in large family homes. This is because of the lack of anything more suitable to move into.
She says the City does have space they can use, it just comes down to how to best use it.
They look to get underway with the project in October, and they’ll have a year to complete the project.
There will be different community engagement sessions that will go through the Seniors Activity Centre. This will be to see if seniors would be interested in sharing their home with other people.
Williams Lake will be getting up to $25,000 for age-friendly assessments and action plans.