Statistics Canada has released age and gender breakdowns from the 2016 census, and they show an increase in the number of people 65 and older who call the Sunshine Coast home.
In 2011, 23.6 per cent of the Sunshine Coast population was 65 or older; in 2016 that percentage had climbed to 29.6. The overall population growth over that period was 4.7 per cent, or 1,351.
Despite the increase, the Sunshine Coast is still not in the top 10 when it comes to communities with the largest proportion of seniors in B.C. Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island, where 52.1 per cent of the population is 65 or older, remains the oldest community in the province.
Regionally, Pender Harbour has the largest proportion of seniors at 37 per cent. In the District of Sechelt, people 65 and older make up 33.8 per cent of the population. In Gibsons, it’s 31.3 per cent.
The 2016 census was also the first to show more people 65 or older than 14 or younger in Canada. That contrast is especially stark on the Sunshine Coast, where there are now two-and-a-half times as many people in the older age bracket than the younger.
The census’ confirmation of what most Coast residents already knew comes as funding for an organization working to coordinate services and support for seniors is about to run out. The Seniors Planning Table grew out of a 2014 effort by the Community Resource Centre to find out more about the specific needs of older adults, and has been operating since then with financial support from the Community Foundation, the Sunshine Coast Credit Union, and an Age Friendly Grant from the District of Sechelt.
The Sechelt grant has run out, and new funding hasn’t yet been secured.
Anne Titcomb, Resource Centre board member and representative at the Seniors Planning Table, said, “I believe the Seniors Planning Table has done an incredible job of working to support seniors here on the Coast. We had four action teams [and] all kinds of things got done in that two-year period. I’m disappointed, but hopeful we’ll still get funding.”
The Seniors Planning Table has been responsible for initiatives like the sold-out seniors conference earlier this year and bringing together more than 20 different organizations. “What they have gotten out of this are the connections… They’ve found a group that is talking the same language and meeting people who are doing similar things,” said Titcomb.
Titcomb estimates it would need about $50,000 per year in sustainable, ongoing funding to continue at the level it has been, but she also said work will continue in some form, and the Resource Centre is also continuing its efforts to support seniors’ programs and organizations.
Federal funding was recently announced for a couple of projects geared toward seniors on the Sunshine Coast. The Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre has been awarded $25,000 from the New Horizons for Seniors Program for new flooring in the auditorium, and the Community Services Society will get $9,428 to create a “resources and services toolkit” for the Better at Home program.
Other information of note in the latest census data involves housing.
According to Statistics Canada, 530 detached homes were added to the Sunshine Coast’s housing stock between 2011 and 2016, but growth in the categories viewed as more likely to offer affordable housing – row houses and semi-detached houses – grew by only 80 units. A total of 180 new apartment style units were also added.
The Sunshine Coast Housing Society is continuing its efforts to work with local governments on a land trust and projects like the one in Gibsons to build housing on unused Town rights of way. Gibsons is also looking to acquire the former RCMP building for affordable housing, possibly in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. And, just before the election, the Pender Harbour Seniors Housing Society was awarded a major grant from BC Housing for its Lily Lake Place project.
