As many people become older, families may have to find alternative housing for their loved ones for a variety of reasons. Villa Las Flores, located in Toronto, is a private non-profit housing complex. It was founded by Fernando Valladares. His main goal is to provide a sense of community and cultural diversity where people feel comfortable and a place they can call home.
Milénio Stadium: How long has Villa Las Flores been around for?
Fernando Valladares: Villa Las Flores is a private nonprofit housing corporation. Prior to that, in 1981, we started with Las Flores Charitable Foundation which is dedicated to all the Spanish speaking people. Our logo and slogan are 20 hearts which represents each of the Spanish-speaking countries in the world. In 1982, we started the International Hispanic Fiesta because we wanted to develop the culture, the food and music and showcase as one community. In the Hispanic community, we are a minority of minorities. Therefore, we were looking for an organization, events and projects that will benefit Hispanic community at large. In 1990, we were given the permission to build this housing project after consultation with the Ontario Municipal Board. We opened the doors on October 1st, 1984. This year we will celebrate our 25th anniversary.
MS: You are a private nonprofit housing corporation – what does that mean?
FV: Private non-profit means we are not fully subsidized by the government. Right now, 62% of the apartments are given to the housing authority of Toronto and the rest are market. There is a difference of being fully subsidized. We are a family mixed corporation. We also have seniors, and after 25 years many of the people are still living here.
MS: How many current tenants do you currently have?
FV: We have 134 units. Between families and so on, we house approximately 300 people.
MS: What kind of living do people experience here?
FV: At the beginning, it was like any other facility. After a few years, we found out the need for housing in the community, especially for the seniors, or those on their way to become seniors, and we had open space in the building. We do activities for seniors every Monday, Friday and sometimes other days in the week. We want to make them feel at home and create a family environment to exchange ideas, culture and food. This is what makes it a better way of living when people come to an old age.
MS: Do you provide any medical, recreational or any type of specific support for those who live here?
FV: No, that is assisted living. We’ve been looking for ways to build another project dedicated to those people that are really in need. Here, we don’t have the facilities to have a clinic or anything of that kind. We have visitation of health care workers on a daily basis and even doctors. Recreation and interacting for them are the activities and changes within their culture. The beauty of a building where you have family mix is that there is interaction between younger people, youth and also the seniors. When you look at a seniors’ homes compared to Las Flores, you don’t see people who are very old all the time. Here you have the chance of having people interacting with other generations and there is a way of communicating with them. I think it’s a very good environment.
MS: Do you find the seniors that live here receive a lot of visitors from friends or family?
FV: We find that their families do come often. They probably don’t feel lack of visitation from families because all of them together have formed a group of people that keep them company. They share many ideas and moments during the activities throughout the week.
MS: What are the main challenges you face here?
FV: The possibility of building another 200 units on top of the ones that we have. The truth of the matter is that the government has been promising social housing and affordable housing, but there is too much talk and no action. We are hoping if we can continue and the lows become more feasible, we can probably build on top of what we have already, instead of finding spaces that are not really available for housing. We are just hoping to expand our facility.
MS: There is an insufficient number of seniors’ homes in Ontario, what’s your opinion on this?
FV: From a political point of view, people say the population in Canada is getting old. Over 40% of the population are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. The future is that there will not be enough housing for the people who need it the most. I think our politicians have to wake up because our population is getting old. We are going to be in a situation where we are going to have more old people than young people that can sustain the system.
MS: At Villa Las Flores, do you think the people who live here get a sense of ‘home’?
FV: At our facility, we try to make them feel as if they are ‘home’. The majority of them feel at home. Like we say in Spanish, ‘el hogar’ or ‘la casa’. We do take them seriously and care for them. One of these days, maybe 20 years from now, we are going to be in the same situation. We have a special interest in making sure that people on their way to become seniors, have a peaceful environment and they’re happy.
Melissa DaCosta
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