Reservations are being accepted for a workshop on housing needs for the elderly.
The workshop is being held by Clark County’s Aging Readiness task force, which is seeking ideas and professional expertise about the community’s future needs regarding housing.
The workshop is the first of five the task force will host as the members develop an Aging Readiness Plan, which will eventually be submitted to Clark County commissioners.
The workshop is 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, at Clark College at Columbia Tech Center, 18700 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd.
Reservations are required, due to space limitations. Call 360-397-2280, ext. 4958, or send an e-mail to rsvp@clark.wa.gov.
Reservations are being accepted for a workshop on housing needs for the elderly.
The workshop is being held by Clark County's Aging Readiness task force, which is seeking ideas and professional expertise about the community's future needs regarding housing.
The workshop is the first of five the task force will host as the members develop an Aging Readiness Plan, which will eventually be submitted to Clark County commissioners.
The workshop is 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, at Clark College at Columbia Tech Center, 18700 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd.
Reservations are required, due to space limitations. Call 360-397-2280, ext. 4958, or send an e-mail to <a href="mailto:rsvp@clark.wa.gov">rsvp@clark.wa.gov</a>.
A schedule of the remaining four workshops and the topics can be found <a href="http://www.clark.wa.gov/planning/aging/workshop.html">here</a>.
-- The Columbian
A schedule of the remaining four workshops and the topics can be found here.
— The Columbian
Clark County’s older set — baby boomers and their parents — are the targeted market for a slate of new senior communities proposed from east Vancouver northward to the Salmon Creek area.
More than $30 million worth of construction will add 172 senior living units and a 20-bed hospice center to four separate communities that are being developed by public and private entities.
Two of the projects are aimed at the county’s growing need for memory care: the 48-unit Elite Care at Sylvan Park proposed at Northeast 112th Avenue and 23rd Street, and the 48-bed Salmon Creek Memory Care center proposed for Northeast 129th Street near the confluence of Interstates 5 and 205.
Another project, Vista Court Senior Housing, will provide more housing options for low-income seniors with a four-story, 76-unit apartment complex in downtown Vancouver.
Forecasters expect the portion of Clark County’s population that is age 65 or older to more than double within 20 years, going from about 44,000 people to 100,000 people.
Housing and care providers are trying to stay ahead of the trend, said Marykay Morelli, a spokeswoman for Community Home Health & Hospice, a nonprofit agency that provides in-home care and hospice services to seniors in Clark and Cowlitz counties.
“Over the past five years, we’ve increased our services to Clark County by 300 percent,” Morelli said.
Her agency’s planned hospice would be off Northeast 136th Court near Legacy Emanuel Salmon Creek Medical Center.
“We expect to break ground in early 2012,” Morelli said.
It would be Clark County’s second hospice care center.
“We see a tremendous need and that’s why we are expanding in the area,” she said.
For-profit companies also recognize the local need for senior centers, especially in the Salmon Creek area, said Greg Roderick, president of Durham, Ore.-based Frontier Management, which manages 34 senior properties across the country. Roderick’s company expects to spend about $7 million developing the Salmon Creek Memory Care community for people experiencing memory issues and illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.
“According to all the studies we’ve had done, it appears there is sufficient demand to fill up the property,” Roderick said.
Jason Hess expects to target a similar segment of seniors with his company’s proposed Elite Care at Sylvan Park. The $7 million to $8 million project would be the first of its kind in east Vancouver upon its opening, expected in 2012.
“A couple of things drew us to Vancouver, including some of the medical doctors that toured our facility,” and showed support for the company’s memory care model, said Hess, chief executive officer of Portland-based Elite Care.
Seniors now make up about 10 percent of Clark County’s population. They generally prefer to “age in place,” staying close to family members and community services, said Steve Towell, a spokesman for the Vancouver Housing Authority, one of Clark County’s main public housing developers.
“We see a need for all kinds of housing, especially senior housing,” Towell said.
His agency’s planned $14.7 million Vista Court Senior Housing project is slated to break ground later this year south of Mill Plain Boulevard off Esther Street in Vancouver’s downtown core.
The development will provide subsidized housing to seniors making between 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median income. An individual with income of $14,960 to $29,900 or a couple with income of $17,100 to $34,2000 would qualify.
Vista Court Senior Housing will serve as a companion to the nearby Van Vista Assisted Living complex, a 100-unit apartment complex that opened in 1970.
Housing authority plans for the newer senior complex include a sustainable design and energy-efficient features, aimed at helping residents who will be working with fixed budgets.
Towell said his agency has long anticipated growth in demand for retirement and senior living complexes.
“I’m sure the for-profit companies can see the market,” Towell said. “In the last few years, people have woken up and said, ‘Hey, the population is getting older and what are we going to do about it?’”
