Rising Tide Community Initiatives is expanding its focus to include seniors.
The organization was founded in 2020, with a vision to create housing for Greater Moncton’s most vulnerable individuals.
“Moving forward we want to expand our focus to create housing for students, low-income families, and seniors. The recent purchase of the property at 1010 St. George Blvd. is the first step in that direction,” says President Dale Hicks.
Rising Tide has purchased the former Wawanesa Insurance Building on St. George Boulevard.
It plans to renovate the structure into 30 single apartments for seniors and will leave the ground floor open for possible community space or further housing units.
“There are several non-profits in the city looking for community space to run programs,” says Hicks. “If nothing materializes on this front, then we will add a further 6 housing units to the ground level.”
Funds for the around $8 million project are expected to come from three levels of government.
Renovations are planned to begin in February.
Meantime, Moncton’s seniors have been searching for a place to call their own since 2022.
Seniors Advocate Group Spokesperson Dennis Cochrane says the first floor of the St. George Boulevard building would be perfect.
“I’ve been working with them to come up with a plan for the building at 1010 St. George Boulevard. We went to them initially and suggested they could develop the top two floors, but we wanted to keep the 10,000 square foot first floor to develop as a seniors centre. This would take the place of the former Lions Centre at 473 St George Street. They’ve worked with their sources to get the money in place to develop the senior’s apartments, and they’ve been successful with that. We’re now working to get funding in place to develop the first-floor procedures.”
The Moncton Lions Centre served as a seniors centre since 1974, but in 2022, it was converted to a homeless shelter.
Cochrane says seniors make up 25 per cent of the population in Moncton, and he feels it’s inconceivable that there is not a dedicated place to serve them.
“We have submitted a plan to the city, and they’re analyzing it now. So what we understand now is the city is going to conduct some consultations with seniors in Moncton, asking what they think they need. We are now working to get seniors familiar with the plan and encouraging them to talk to their City Councillors, to talk to the Mayor, to attend the consultations, and send correspondence,” Cochrane adds.
He presented the proposal in early December and he believes consultations are expected to be held in late January or early February.
Cochrane says the building would be $1.1 million and operating costs would be around $125,000 a year.
“They were paying almost that much at the Lions Centre, and probably that much when you consider their obligations to the building and the maintenance and so on. And then there’s the cost of renovations, a little over $1 million, and some money for equipment. There would be a lot of joint usage, and it really fills a need. It’s not cheap, but it’s reasonable in that regard,” Cochrane adds.
At the Moncton Lions Community Centre, the Seniors Association had 574 members, and Cochrane expects there will be even more if this centre is created.
“It’s a great location, good parking, safe environment, and 10,000 square feet of modern space, which would be divided after consultation with the seniors. There would be the ability for lunches and snacks, coffee breaks and so on. Our objective is to have a safe place where seniors can enjoy physical activity and, probably more importantly, socialization.”
