Seniors at Odle’s Glen to pay part of pensions for housing

Residents of the proposed Odle’s Glen Senior Citizens Village in St George could be required to pay up to 35 per cent of their pensions towards accommodation under a government cost-recovery arrangement similar to that used at Vauxhall Senior Citizens Village, the government’s chief social care official has said.

The village forms part of the development of four major healthcare facilities under the government’s US$175m ($350m) Health Services Resilience Programme, which is expected to be operational by 2029. The programme also includes the new Geriatric Hospital at Waterford; Roseville Halfway House in St Peter; and an expansion at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Appearing at a public consultation at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on the planned village, interim director of the Social Empowerment Agency (SEA) Coleen Walcott said: “The plan is – and this has been happening both at Soroptimist Village and Vauxhall Village – there is some level of cost-recovery. Housing is heavily subsidised, particularly the Vauxhall Village, by the state; and that will be the plan for Odle’s Glen Village as well, where there will be some percentage of the pension, which will be used to cover accommodation. At the Vauxhall Senior Citizens Village, residents pay 35 per cent of their income for accommodation; and pension is treated as income.