LITTLE CURRENT—Last month Shelly Raymond, president and founder of Solterra Co-Housing Ltd., delivered a presentation on her company and the concept of senior co-housing—presenting a possible affordable solution to aging Manitoulin residents.
“In 2009 the idea of Solterra was born out of my personal experience trying to help my dad,” explained Ms. Raymond to The Expositor. “My biggest fear was that my dad didn’t have the money to move into a retirement home which forced me to start looking for alternative models.”
Through travelling the globe, Ms. Raymond was able to draw from various senior living models, eventually developing the Solterra Co-Housing model for her father and other Ontario seniors.
“We met another man in a similar situation to my dad and created a shared house for them in Bracebridge,” added Ms. Raymond. “That was the first house and now we have expanded with similar co-housing models in over eight other communities.”
Ms. Raymond explained that for most seniors, the cost of retirement homes is too high, on average $4,000 to $5,000 a month, with many seniors outliving their savings.
“With the co-housing model it protects the individual’s equity,” she continued. “As an example, a group of five or six seniors could buy into a home for $130,000, each having their own bedroom and sharing a common living room and kitchen area. They would then share the monthly costs of heat, hydro, insurance and water. Not only do the shared costs help make senior living more affordable, they also are able to sell their portion of the home when or if they choose to leave.”
Ms. Raymond said there are three models for Solterra Co-Housing: A, a ‘Golden Girls’ (the 1980s television series) format where the residents don’t need services and can still live independently, simply sharing housing costs; B, where the residents get up to 35 hours of assistance with cooking, cleaning, shopping etc; and C, where the residents receive 35 hours or more of assistance.
“Solterra can help individuals with establishing a service provider agreement or residents of a co-house can choose to hire their own assistance,” explained Ms. Raymond, “but we are there to help them in whatever way they need or want.”
[pullquote]“Solterra can help individuals with establishing a service provider agreement or residents of a co-house can choose to hire their own assistance,” explained Ms. Raymond, “but we are there to help them in whatever way they need or want.”[/pullquote]
Approached by an Island developer, Ms. Raymond said that Little Current would be a great location for co-housing as not only does it make assisted living possible through shared costs, but also allows seniors to control, oversee and manage their own care, with assistance from Solterra.
“This is something that I have been looking at for a long time,” explained the Island developer working with Solterra, Jib Turner. “It is an affordable housing option for seniors and allows them to stay in a home environment.”
“Retirement homes can be very costly, but with co-housing living costs can be shared making it a possibility for seniors while providing them with an investment, opposed to pouring money into rent,” continued Mr. Turner. “It also helps seniors with another big threat—loneliness—which is a big cause of death in North America.”
Ms. Raymond said that Solterra has begun its innovative co-hosing registry process for Manitoulin, which encourages interested individuals to fill out an application to receive newsletters, information and connect with interested Island residents.
“With the registry we see who’s interested, but that information is kept confidential and if the interest is present, then we approach the developer and move forward,” concluded Ms. Raymond.
For more information on Solterra Co-Housing or to register, contact Ms. Raymond at shelly0007@gmail.com, visit www.solterraco-housing.com or call toll free 1-877-833-007.
