Bowen Court has a plan for its financial stability. It just can't implement that plan until the municipality builds a new sewer line along Miller Road.
The 19-unit co-op housing community has surplus land that it can sell along Miller Road but that land has little value to a potential buyer if there's no sewer line to service it. No sewer line, no sale. No sale, no money to prop up a building that's sinking or a septic system that's bound to fail soon.
"If we could sell that land, we'd be laughing," says Bowen Court president Pam Stimpson.
As well, once the mortgage is paid off in eight years, the residents will be able to do a much better job at saving enough money for rainy days.
The solutions seem so close and yet so far.
That's why Bowen Court asked the municipality for a $11,000 grant to help with its most pressing issue - a building that is sinking into the wet ground.
The municipality turned down the application, leaving the residents worried about how to come up with the money themselves.
A private landowner facing the same problem could go to the bank to ask for a second mortgage, says new resident Louise Ferguson, who's the volunteer chair of the maintenance committee. Bowen Court residents can't do that. Nor can residents "sell" their one- or two-bedroom units as a way out. As a co-op, their shares are worth only $1,000 for a one-bedroom unit and $1,250 as a one-bedroom unit. That low price makes Bowen Court appealing when you're buying in but doesn't give you anything close to a nestegg when you sell.
And where else on Bowen could they go? It would be hard to find somewhere else with a monthly charge of either $655 or $819?
"People don't move here and say 'Oh wow,'" says Stimpson. "They move here and say 'Thank goodness.'"
There is the option of charging the residents the money for the repairs or increasing the monthly fees, which is what the provincial co-op housing association says Bowen Court should do. But that would defeat then entire premise behind Bowen Court, Stimpson.
Fellow resident Alvie Ferguson adds, "I think that older people who want to move here should be able to."
Twenty-five years ago, when Bowen Court was built, "the whole idea was to have affordable housing for seniors and if we do what the agency wants us to, we'll have places that are just the same price as everyone else."
She estimates that 60 per cent of residents did not have a previous home to sell, and therefore don't have any equity. Even if they did have a home, it doesn't mean that it was mortgage free and they can live off the proceeds.
As well, since some of the residents get subsidies from the province for their monthly payments, she is aware that many of them simply could not afford any extra costs. (Those subsidies are no longer available for new residents because of government cutbacks.)
Ferguson recently accompanied a roofing consultant who was checking the state of the buildings' roofs. (That inspection alone cost $1,800.) Many residents told her that any increase would be a real hardship.
John Selody, who's 84, says that many of the residents are living on pensions that have not kept up with the costs of living on Bowen. As seniors stay in their own homes longer, they also need to make sure those pensions can be stretched.
Some residents would qualify for a spot at Abbeyfield House but since that is not built yet, they're having to make do on their own. The only other option is moving to the mainland.
"If it wasn't for North Shore Home Support, a lot of people couldn't survive here on their own. Thank God for them," says Stimpson.
She adds the financial crisis that today's residents are experiencing is partly as a result of a highly well-intentioned goal of helping previous residents avoid economic hardship.
"When this place was first started the majority of the committee [that ran Bowen Court] did not live here," she says. "They were absolutely against putting up the housing charges."
As well, Bowen Court was supposed to be banking money for future needs and emergencies, but although some money was set aside, it was not close to the amount that was budgeted - or needed.
The task of being landlords and occupants grew too complicated for the volunteer board so six years ago it turned to the co-op housing association. Bowen Court pays it a management fee. "They put us straight on a lot of things," says Stimpson. There was a five per cent increase in fees last year and this year it's suggested that all occupants pay $60 a month more, bringing the fees to $715 and $879.
She doesn't understand why the municipality will not support Bowen Court since the municipality has long said that affordable housing is a priority and it's willing to help the creation of Abbeyfield House, which will be home to many Bowen Court residents.
As well, says Alvie Ferguson, "every time there's an election, they say the sewer line will come along Miller Road." The lack of a sewer line is what's holding Bowen Court back financially.
