Fraser Valley Regional District Receives $20,000 Age-Friendly Community Planning Grant
Release. The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) has received a $20,000 Age-Friendly Community Planning Grant from the Ministry of Health Seniors’ Housing and Support Initiative.
This grant will support FVRD’s Addressing Aging in Rural Communities project (AARC) to understand the needs of people in rural communities and how they change with age. The funding will also help District officials to: conduct a gap-analysis of seniors’ housing and a community planning policy review as it relates to aging in electoral areas; assemble census data to better understand the age profile in electoral areas to maximize service delivery; and, work with community associations to better understand the existing housing options available to seniors in order to identify sustainable solutions that improve housing and allow the elderly to age-in-place.
“FVRD recognizes that rural landscapes and communities pose challenges for aging and we want to look at options to help the aged remain in rural communities,” Sharon Gaetz, Chair, Fraser Valley Regional District, said. “We will look at housing options, such as secondary dwellings that could include a garden suite or carriage house as part of the Addressing Aging in Rural Communities project.”
Officials are expected to complete the AARC project by January 2015.
“It is important that we improve the lives of seniors’ in rural areas as more and more choose to remain there and also as more retirees locate to rural parts of the region,” Gaetz, added.