Agenda Index City of Vancouver

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council approve a Capital Grant of $100,000 to South Vancouver Neighbourhood House Society for the redevelopment of a new Neighbourhood House facility. Source of funds is $76,070 from the Capital Grants portion of the 2000-2002 Capital Plan and $23,930 from unallocated funding from closed Capital Grant projects.

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The City Manager supports the proposed South Vancouver Neighbourhood House with dedicated space and enhanced supports for seniors and the allocation of City funding to enable this project to proceed. The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of A, B and C.

COUNCIL POLICY

On April 12, 2001 City Council approved, in principle, the allocation of up to $521,950 for the construction of a seniors centre at Killarney Community Centre, subject to approval by the Province of matching funding. The sources of City funding were to be $300,000 from the Community Amenity Contribution from the Champlain Mall redevelopment project and $221,950 from other unspecified City capital funds .

Also, on April 12, 2001 Council endorsed an application from the Killarney Community Centre Association to the Province for a $521,950 Community Partners Program capital grant for this project.

The 2000-2002 Capital Plan included a $500,000 allocation for Capital Grants for facilities which are not owned by the City.

On January 15, 2002 City Council approved the CityPlan Vision for the Victoria-Fraserview and Killarney neighbourhoods; included in the Vision was the recognition of the need for improved services for seniors in the area.

Approval of grant recommendations requires 8 affirmative votes.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to seek Council's approval of capital funding which can be used in conjunction with approved funding from the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program and money which has already been raised in the community to build a replacement facility for South Vancouver Neighbourhood House. Included in the plans for the new Neighbourhood House are dedicated spaces for use by seniors, priority access by seniors to multi-purpose rooms and enhanced supports for seniors activities.

SUMMARY

South Vancouver Neighbourhood House (SVNH) provides a wide range of social, cultural and recreational programs for children, teens, families and seniors in South Vancouver. Because the current facility is in poor condition and is too small to meet the needs of the community, SVNH has put together a plan and is ready to build a new facility, one which will benefit the whole community. SVNH has an approved City development permit, a considerable amount of money raised from the community, and with the approval of the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure grant in July of this year, it was hoped that construction of a new facility could begin immediately. However, construction bids are higher than originally estimated, so $543,200 in additional funding must be found.

The need to improve services and supports for seniors in South Vancouver has been well documented over the past 5-6 years. Approximately 18 months ago Council approved funding, in principle, for a seniors centre at Killarney Community Centre that was intended to address some of these needs. The City funding was subject to matching funds from the Provincial Community Partners Program. This program was subsequently canceled and the Killarney Community Centre Association made an independent application to the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program. This application was not submitted to Council for endorsement. At this point, Infrastructure funding for the seniors centre project has not been approved, and it is not known if or when it might be.

In reviewing the situation, Social Planning staff saw an opportunity to secure the funding to enable the SVNH project to go ahead and to meet the needs of seniors in a more timely fashion. Staff therefore asked SVNH to review their proposed building and operating plans to put together a proposal for enhancing services and supports for seniors, which they did. While the SVNH proposal provides less office and lounge space, staff feel that the SVNH and Killarney projects are quite comparable in terms of meeting seniors' needs, particularly in terms of the amount of program space that is available during the daytime hours, when it is most useful to seniors.

Both proposals require the involvement of the South Vancouver Seniors Network and the South Vancouver Seniors Council. In the Killarney proposal, these groups would have provided the staff and some operating costs. In the Neighbourhood House, both groups will have offices and will run programs in partnership with SVNH. Both groups recently met to discuss the two proposals and have endorsed the SVNH plan.

Staff have concluded that the revised SVNH proposal is a practical, timely and achievable way of meeting the need for a larger and improved Neighbourhood House to serve all of South Van and the specific need for additional and enhanced services and supports to seniors. Therefore, staff are recommending that the Community Amenity Contribution money ($300,000) that had been approved for a new seniors centre at Killarney Community Centre be reallocated to the SVNH project. Further, it is recommended that the City approve a Capital Grant of $100,000 for this project from the existing Capital Grants budget. The SVNH Society will be responsible for securing the remainder of the funding shortfall.

BACKGROUND

South Vancouver Neighbourhood House

South Vancouver Neighbourhood House (SVNH) has been providing social, cultural and recreational programs for children, teens, families and seniors since 1977. There are very few social service facilities in the south-east quarter of the city. SVNH has for many years taken a leadership role in the coordination of all services in this area.

The need for a new facility for SVNH has been evident for a number of years. The current two storey building at 6470 Victoria Drive, at 49th Avenue, is in poor condition and is too small to meet the needs of the community. The building and property are owned by the Association of Neighbourhood Houses, the umbrella organization to which SVNH belongs.

SVNH started work on the new facility in 1996 and finalized plans to demolish and replace the old Neighbourhood House in 2000. The new facility will be almost twice as large as the current one and will include a pre-school, community kitchen, meeting rooms, offices, and activity areas.

The SVNH Society applied to the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program for 2/3 funding for the project. In March 2001, City Council endorsed a list of Engineering, Parks and community projects that were being submitted to the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program. As one of the requirements of the Program, the City was asked to prioritize all applications. The SVNH project was number 24 out of 43 submissions, or number 3 for the community projects (the Vancouver Museum and Millennium Sports Centre were rated higher).

In July 2002, the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program announced a grant of $1.2 million for the SVNH project. This was in addition to the $200,000 BC Community Spirit Grant which had been approved earlier.

Social Planning has identified this project as being one of its highest priorities. SVNH does excellent work, but the limitations imposed by an inadequate facility are preventing the effective and efficient delivery of a complete range of badly needed community services.

Services for South Vancouver Seniors

Over the past 5-6 years, there has been a recognized and often articulated need for expanded services for seniors in the south-east sector. The CityPlan Community Vision for this area, approved by Council on January 15, 2002 has also identified the need for expanded services for seniors.

In discussions in 1999 on the Champlain Mall redevelopment, seniors made several presentations to the City on the need for expanded seniors' services in the community. In allocating Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) and Development Cost Levy (DCL) funds coming from this project, Council left $300,000 in the CAC undesignated and asked staff to examine the feasibility of a seniors' centre in Champlain Mall.

Subsequently, representatives of the South Vancouver Seniors Network Society, South Vancouver Seniors Council, Killarney Community Centre Society and City and Park Board staff explored possibilities for using the $300,000 to improve program space for seniors. Then, the 2001 announcement of the Provincial Community Partners Program provided anopportunity to secure sufficient capital funding to build a larger seniors' centre than had been considered up to that point.

A plan was drawn up for a South Vancouver Seniors Centre that would be a one-storey building of approximately 3,500 sq. ft., attached to the east side of Killarney Community Centre, adjacent to the gymnasium. The building would include 3000 sq. ft. of space for the sole use by seniors and approximately 500 sq. ft. for washrooms for field users and a small amount of storage for the adjacent children's play area programs. The plan also proposed the demolition of nearby Collingwood Hall which is used at times for seniors programs.

On April 12, 2001 City Council endorsed the construction of the proposed seniors' centre, and approved in principle the allocation of $300,000 from the CAC from the Champlain Mall redevelopment and a further allocation of $221,950 from "other City capital funds", all subject to approval by the Province of matching funding. Subsequently, the Community Partners Program was cancelled by the Provincial Government and the Killarney Community Centre Association independently submitted an application to the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program for this project. The Killarney seniors' centre Infrastructure application was not submitted to Council for endorsement, as were other applications for community projects (including SVNH), and consequently it was not included in the City's list of priorities for Infrastructure funding.

The Killarney Community Centre Association application is in the initial stages of processing for Infrastructure funding. There is no way to predict if or when it might be approved. If it were to be approved, the design, permit approval and construction phase would take at least two years.

Apart from the funding, the other essential element of the Killarney proposal was that the centre be operated by seniors, with the funding for staffing and general operating costs coming from the seniors' group. At present, the only seniors organizations in South Vancouver which have staff and a track record of delivering services are the South Vancouver Seniors Network and the South Vancouver Seniors Council. These were the core groups around which a larger steering committee representing other seniors groups and interests were to be organized.

DISCUSSION

As soon as the Infrastructure funding was announced, SVNH got bids for the construction of the new facility. The lowest bid came in at $543,200 over the estimate submitted with the Infrastructure application 18 months earlier. If this shortfall is met, the SVNH project can go ahead almost immediately. However, if the additional funding isn't secured, the project will be postponed indefinitely while funding is being sought. Also, the $200,000 Community Spirit Grant approved for this project will be forfeited as it, and the requiredmatching funding (for a total of $400,000), must be spent on construction of the new facility by March 31, 2003.

In reviewing the situation with the SVNH and Killarney proposals, Social Planning staff saw an opportunity to secure the funding to enable the SVNH project to go ahead and to respond the needs of seniors in a timely fashion. Staff therefore asked SVNH to review their proposed building and operating plans to put together a proposal for enhancing services and supports for seniors.

SVNH found that in addition to the seniors services that they already provide, they could make a considerable contribution towards improving and expanding services and supports for seniors, including: a dedicated seniors lounge on the ground floor, dedicated office space for the Seniors Network and Seniors Council, guaranteed priority access to the large ground floor multi-purpose room all day during the week, priority access to other multi-purpose spaces during the evenings and weekends, and access to the large community kitchen. SVNH will pick up all operating and maintenance costs for these spaces. Appendix A includes a comparison of the SVNH proposal and the earlier Killarney Seniors' Centre proposal.

Social Planning staff then set out to ascertain how seniors, particularly those who had worked on the earlier proposals, would feel about the SVNH proposal. SVNH presented its proposal to the South Vancouver Seniors Network board, and the South Vancouver Seniors Council, both of whom endorsed the SVNH proposal as a practical way to provide their programs and other seniors programs with a "home" in the near future.

On October 2, 2002, Social Planning called a general meeting of seniors to obtain additional input on how best to further the objective of strengthening and improving resources and services for seniors in South Van. Seniors and community groups were asked to invite members and program participants to come to this meeting. A total of 38 people attended: 27 were seniors and 11 were staff/board members. The seniors came from 6 different community organizations, as well as from the community at large. (Detailed minutes of the meeting are available).

There were presentations on the history of the activities and proposals that have been developed over the past several years, and the SVNH and Killarney proposals. Some felt that the primary objective should be to improve services in South Vancouver as soon as possible, and felt that the SVNH proposal would meet this goal. Others felt that a stand-alone, self-governed centre should be the main objective. Issues with the timing and the do-ability of the Killarney project were recognized. Concerns were expressed as to whether or not proceeding with SVNH would preclude any future work on a stand-alone centre. It was noted that the South Vancouver Seniors Council and South Vancouver Seniors Network support the SVNH proposal. No vote was taken at the October 2nd meeting as the participants felt they did not have a mandate to speak on behalf of all seniors in South Vancouver.

After reviewing the input from the various seniors and community groups, the circumstances around each proposal, and the proposals for improving seniors services, staff are recommending that the CAC funding be re-directed to SVNH. The SVNH proposal will permit significant additional programming for seniors at the Neighbourhood House, through a partnership with the SV Seniors Network and South Vancouver Seniors Council. One of the ongoing issues in South Vancouver and for the Network has been the lack of space in which to run programs. Bringing the Network and Council staff into the Neighbourhood House will bring a number of seniors workers together into a staff team which can work together to promote and develop both in-house and outreach programs.

FINANCES

The current bid cost for the SVNH project is $2,433,500. This is considerably more than estimated eighteen months ago when the Infrastructure funding application was submitted. The actual costs are higher for a number of reasons, including:

Over the past five years, SVNH has secured $1,890,300 for this project, as follows:

TOTAL $1,890,300

The shortfall, which is the difference between the project cost and the available funds, is $543,200. On September 3, 2002 the Executive Director for SVNH wrote to the City seeking assistance in overcoming this shortfall.

The 2000-2002 Capital Plan included an allocation of $500,000 for Capital Grants for social, cultural and childcare facilities that are not City owned. Over the past three years, staff recommended and Council approved grants totaling $423,930 from this budget, leaving an unallocated balance of $76,070. A number of the approved projects came in under budget or did not proceed, so there is an additional $29,073 available in this budget. These projects are closed out under administrative authority - under this authority, department heads areallowed to close out capital projects whose over or under expenditures do not exceed 15% of the approved budget or $50,000.

SVNH meets all the eligibility criteria for a Capital Grant and therefore we are proposing that Council approve a Capital Grant of $100,000 towards this project, with $76,070 coming from the unallocated amount in the Capital Grant budget, and $23,930 coming from the closed Capital Grant projects. This leaves a balance in the Capital Grants budget of $5,143.

As noted above, Social Planning staff are recommending that the City's CAC funding ($300,000) for the proposed seniors' centre project at Killarney Community Centre be reallocated to the SVNH development.

The contractor that prepared the bids for the project feels that he can negotiate better prices in some areas, for possible savings as high as $75,000.

SVNH notes that their ability to raise even more funding is somewhat limited. If they can't quite reach the desired target, then the umbrella organization to which they belong, the Association of Neighbourhood Houses (ANH) is prepared to guarantee a small mortgage to make up the difference.

In summary the proposal for meeting the funding shortfall is as follows:

TOTAL $543,200

The 2002 operating budget for SVNH is $1,943,000. For many years the City has contributed to the core operating costs by providing a Community Services grant - in 2002, this grant was $57,872. Although the new facility will be considerably larger than the current one, the operating costs are not anticipated to change significantly. The primary reason for this is that SVNH currently runs a number of programs out of satellite locations, and moving these into the new facility will reduce operating costs for them.

TIMING

SVNH has the required permits, has made arrangements for the temporary relocation of their operation, and is in a position to sign a construction contract very shortly. They are hoping to begin construction early in the new year when construction activity is at its lowest and subsequently lower costs can be realized. The Provincial Government has stipulated that construction must have started and the full amount of the Community Spirit Grant and matching funding (for a total of $400,000) must be spent before March 31, 2003, or theCommunity Spirit Grant will be forfeited. The contractor has estimated that SVNH can move into its new facility within the coming year.

CONCLUSION

South Vancouver Neighbourhood House (SVNH) provides a wide range of social, cultural and recreational programs for children, teens, families and seniors in South Vancouver. Because the current facility is in poor condition and is too small to meet the needs of the community, SVNH has put together a plan and is ready to build a new facility, one which will benefit the whole community. However, it now faces a funding shortfall of $543,200.

Approximately 18 months ago Council approved funding, in principle, for a seniors centre at Killarney Community Centre that was intended to address some of the needs of seniors in South Vancouver. The City funding was subject to matching funds from the senior levels of government, but these matching funds have not been forthcoming.

Social Planning staff identified an opportunity here to both secure the funding to enable the SVNH project to go ahead and to meet the needs of seniors in a more timely fashion. Staff worked with the SVNH and seniors in the community to come up with a plan that meets both objectives.

It is therefore recommended that the City contribute $400,000 towards the funding shortfall for SVNH, on the condition that SVNH secures the remainder of the needed money, and with the agreement that SVNH will provide space and operating support to improve services for seniors in the community.

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