Last winter, Patricia Pielow lived outside of Barrie – the community where she wanted to enjoy her retirement.
For years, she had wanted to live in Barrie when she retired – but like many people, the high rents kept her locked out.
Today, she celebrated the official opening of the expansion of 33 Brooks St., a Simcoe County Housing Corporation affordable seniors residence, where she now enjoys the amenities many take for granted.
“This will be a wonderful winter for me,” the 69-year-old said.
It's a big change for Pielow, who spent last winter living in a cabin with no indoor plumbing while she volunteered at a meditation centre.
Now, she's in a vibrant neighbourhood, close to services.
“When I walk in, I’m overwhelmed. There’s such a beautiful big window with trees outside. The view is like the cabin, but that’s where it ends.”
The $11.6-million expansion on Brooks Street doubled the stock of affordable housing apartments for seniors and put them near a retirement lodge and a long-term care home, as well as on a bus route that links them with the Allandale Seniors Centre, as well as shopping and restaurants both downtown and at Park Place.
The affordable units rent for $450 plus hydro, and as Simcoe County’s General Manager, Social and Community Service Greg Bishop says, the units are hopefully only the start of years of adding housing for seniors.
“This will help address the need for affordable housing for people who include the working poor and seniors on a fixed income,” Bishop said, noting the county is aiming to add 2,685 new affordable units over the next decade.
“We have a build (starting) in 2017 in Collingwood and we’ll be looking at the cities of Barrie and Orillia.”
County Warden Gerry Marshall said the county is working with Barrie and Orillia to fund projects such as this expansion, which offer a quality of life for seniors who need a helping hand up.
The Brooks Street opening is a “milestone”, he said, because it’s the first affordable housing build to open since the county began its affordable housing work a couple of years ago.
For Barrie, it’s a “wonderful start” towards the city’s target of 840 new units.
“When we go out to build projects, we want to build good housing in good neighbourhoods where people can enjoy living. I grew up three blocks from here. This (seniors) campus is a beautiful addition in a beautiful neighbourhood,” Lehman said.
“It’s putting affordable housing into a community where you have seniors services. It’s a really wonderful way to provide more services. We have people who have worked their whole life and ended up in a place where the cost of living is too much to afford. That should not happen to someone after struggling to contribute and raise a family their whole life.
“This is a wonderful neighbourhood. It’s a great place to live.”
For Pielow, Barrie is where she longed to spend her retirement, after visiting schools in the city 14 years ago while working for a theatre company.
“I thought this is a beautiful area and I’d love to live here, but I looked at the rent prices.”
She moved closer to the city, to Egbert, after she began volunteering at The Vipassana Centre.
And not only is she enjoying water and hydro connections, she’s reconnected with her brother who lives in the city.
“Barrie is a wonderful place to live and I’m so grateful I can now.”
