Could Markham seniors' affordable housing solution be in parking lots of places of worship?

Yorkregion.com
May 23, 2019
Tim Kelly

Advocates for seniors' affordable housing are looking for cheap land in Markham and they think they’ve found a solution -- build on parking lots offered up by churches, mosques or synagogues where the land is virtually free.

In return, those building the affordable housing would replace whatever parking spots they take away from the faith community. Everybody wins.

Such a position dovetails with recommendation No. 7 of the Making Markham Age-Friendly Committee, which released its 19 recommendations to Markham council in March.

It also lines up nicely with an upcoming seniors' housing symposium taking place Thursday, May 23, at Unionville Presbyterian Church, 600 Village Parkway from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The symposium will discuss ways to make affordable seniors' housing a reality at a time when the seniors population is rapidly growing, more seniors are finding themselves disabled and there is greater need for affordable seniors' housing in the city.

The big issue, when the price of land is $5 million an acre, is cost.

Unionville Coun. Reid McAlpine is well aware of the growing problem.

“Recent reports to Markham city council from the Committee for an Age-Friendly Markham (CFAFM), from city staff, and from Daniele Zanotti, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Toronto, have confirmed what most of us know anecdotally; there is a housing affordability crisis in Markham, compounded by a rapidly aging population. The "seniors tsunami" is here and as a community we need to act now before it's too late,” McAlpine said.

“We have in our midst a source of very low cost, even free land -- that is land controlled by churches, temples, mosques, synagogues and other religious organizations and places of worship. This land is often taken up with low-value uses, like parking -- sometimes used only once a week -- or the land may simply be unused. As well, many, perhaps most, religious organizations are built on fundamental values regarding community service and compassion,” he added, suggesting there is a way to address the problem.

Regional Coun. Jack Heath, co-chair of the CFAFM, said: “We identified a great deal of underutilized land that should be considered: government and government agency surface parking lots. They can be double-purposed. Replace the parking with a level or two of structured parking and build the housing for seniors and others up above. We have the land; do we have the will to make a major dent in the problem?”

Surjit Sanchev, a retired engineer, has a vision for an intentional community and believes there is a way to allow seniors to live in an affordable, dignified way.

“We want to provide affordable housing to adults afflicted with mental or physical disabilities and for the same opportunity to aging seniors,” Sanchev said. “The concept of co-housing is engaged living where a resident knows one’s neighbours, shares conversations, meals and milestones.”

Sanchev’s goal is to eliminate that sense of isolation many seniors feel when they live alone.

“It’s for seniors who don’t want to be living in loneliness and isolation and want to build another kind of a family. It is flourishing in Europe, but in Canada, we are a little bit behind,” he admits.

In co-housing, Sanchev said, beside every door in a building, there is a window into a kitchen with the kitchens facing each other, people seeing their neighbours, a common area to share coffee or conversation. The idea is to socialize and avoid a sense of isolation.

Sanchev sees the model of building on faith community parking lots as a workable solution for such affordable housing with government funding from all levels as key to making it work.

“We would be looking at capital support from the city of Markham, the federal government and from other programs,” he said.

Lorne Cook, an advocate for seniors, said at Unionville Presbyterian Church, “we’ve got a couple of acres which would eliminate the problem of building an affordable house.”

Cook has submitted a drawing which has the church connected to an affordable house with an atrium in the middle.

“It would be solar-powered, energy efficient, so people could use their balconies year round and it would be a green space for low-income housing.”