Officials with Gardens On Tenth in Altona are celebrating a significant milestone.

The seniors housing facility, which was constructed in 2015, has now reached the point where all 66 of its independent living suites are taken and there's a list of prospective tenants waiting to get in.

"We have a waiting list for each size of suite, so at this point everything is taken," said Laurie Schellenberg, executive director for the Gardens. "We know that there are some openings coming up in March but those are already spoken for. Everything is moving now."

It has taken longer than expected to get to this point mostly because the project was seen by many in the community as a facility that only the wealthy could afford. That mistaken belief prevailed even before construction started on the four story building and has been a challenge for the Gardens board of directors to overcome.

"I think that perception has finally changed and I think people are finally seeing that in this building we have a mixture of people who are well-to-do and people who need rent-geared-to-income suites and everything in between."

In fact, Schellenberg pointed out that 48 of the 66 suites are in some way funded through Manitoba Housing with either rent geared to income or an affordable rent supplement.

Now that a waiting list has been firmly established board members and management are beginning to discuss a phase 3 component to the Gardens complex.

"Phase 3 would be an addition to the new building at the east end of the dining room and we are starting to talk with the RHA about the needs in the community," said Schellenberg. "We know that we are only at the beginning of a bubble of seniors. We've got a huge number of seniors that are going to be turning 80 in the near future and are going to need more supports and many will have dementia. So we are trying to plan for that and continue to evolve with the needs in the community."

Meanwhile, Gardens On Tenth continues to lobby the province to increase funding for more supportive housing services.

The Apartments - File photo

Currently, only 13 suites located in their two story building known as The Apartments are funded for supportive services while the other 10 tenants are paying a fee to receive those same supports.

"We have a waiting list of about 18 people, so we could almost fill a similar building another time over with just people needing supportive housing, said Shellenberg."

With no rooms available in the personal care home or hospital, Schellenberg said a lot of that pressure is now backing up into their facility which continues to be a challenge for them.