Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (July 29/02) - The Hay River Seniors' Society held an emergency meeting last week to discuss the status of a proposed new housing facility.

Plans had been to construct a new building for seniors' housing on the site of the current young offenders facility, once the GNWT built a new one.

However, the GNWT recently announced the young offenders facility would be renovated, not replaced.

"We had to have a meeting on where to go and what to do," says Lloyd Brunes, president of the seniors' society.

Now the society is proposing to build a new seniors' facility on town property on the south side of the B&R Rowe Building in the downtown area.

"That's what we're looking at," Brunes says.

He explained the land could be exchanged for the NWT Housing Corporation property on which Riverview Lodge now sits.

However, another suggestion at the emergency meeting, which attracted about 50 people, was to buy the Mackenzie Place highrise for seniors's housing.

"That idea was kind of discarded quickly," Brunes says, explaining it would cost too much to renovate the highrise.

Riverview Lodge, which contains 15 units for seniors, is almost 30 years old and needs to be replaced, he says.

Brunes says it is hoped an arrangement can be found soon, but notes seniors have been waiting for a new building for about 10 years.

The territorial government has set aside $1.4 million for the project.

Tom Makepeace, the district manager with the NWT Housing Corporation, says staff from the corporation's head office in Yellowknife will be in Hay River Aug. 2.

"We want to look at the land and the current buildings we have," Makepeace says, adding a decision on how to proceed will hopefully be made by mid-August.