ATIKOKAN, Ont. – With Northwestern Ontario’s aging population many municipalities across the region are looking for solutions to allow residents to continue to live in their communities.
Last year, Marathon entered into an agreement with CGV Developments out of Cochrane and they are currently in the construction phase of a $10 million, 35 unit supportive housing complex. The complex is set to be complete this fall.
Now, Atikokan is looking into a similar development with the same company.
Mayor Dennis Brown said the town already has a drop-in centre for seniors but when it comes to housing they are left with only two choices…stay in their homes or move to another community.
“It’s been an issue in Atikokan for many years,” Brown said. “We need more senior’s apartments and senior’s housing and if we can do it as a combination of supportive then it will be a lot easier.”
Brown said the first step was to have a survey done in an effort to see how many seniors would be interested.
They now face a series of challenges from those responses, the biggest being the need to find a mortgage holder for the property and residents not wanting to move into the facility unless they can sell their houses in town.
(Northwest Newsweek)
