The eight modular homes built in Maria to accommodate health workers were inaugurated Tuesday morning.
It took the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) nine months to build these 5 and a half container homes, located in the heart of the municipality.
Last fall, the SHQ was behind schedule in installing these units because the tender process for developing the land was delayed.
The initiative, carried out in collaboration with the health network and several other community partners, aims to offer transitional housing to health workers recruited abroad.
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Jean St-Pierre is the deputy president and CEO of the CISSS de la Gaspésie.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Roxanne Langlois
We must not forget that these people often arrive with their family, do not have a car, have almost no possessions, so it is a nice transition period that we offer them. Obviously, what we want [ensuite]is that they can find their own accommodation, explains the president and CEO of the Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) of Gaspésie, Jean St-Pierre.
The Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, travelled to Baie-des-Chaleurs for the official ribbon cutting on Tuesday.
This is a need that was crying out. We need health care workers to properly meet the needs of the population and serve them well, but the issue was that we were not able to accommodate them, the minister said.
So, it provides a transitional option for people arriving from outside. […] This allows them to not be on the street and to be able to sit down, calmly, and look at the options. [de logement].
A quote from France-Élaine Duranceau, Minister responsible for Housing
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The inauguration of the modular homes took place on Tuesday morning.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Roxanne Langlois
Families will be able to stay there for $1,200 per month, all inclusive, for a period of six months. Three of them have already moved in and others will move in gradually as needed.
The CISSS de la Gaspésie indicates that it will offer support for finding housing after the transitional period in modular units.
On our side, we have people who make us offers to rent houses or apartments at the CISSS, so we will do twinning with these people at that time. We support them as much [du côté des ressources humaines que] of management, specifies Yannick Sauvé, director of procurement and logistics at the CISSS de la Gaspésie.
A pattern that repeats itself
A similar set of eight modular homes has also been deployed in Gaspé, on land belonging to the CISSS de la Gaspésie near the CHSLD Monseigneur-Ross. These units, still unoccupied, should begin to be inhabited in the coming weeks.
All the installation is done. It’s more at the furniture level […] that there are small things to complete, but [les unités] will be available. If anyone needed them, we would be able to provide them within a week, adds Yannick Sauvé.
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The units were furnished by the CISSS de la Gaspésie and will be managed by the Société d’habitation Baie-des-Chaleurs.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Roxanne Langlois
Already around sixty nurses who came from abroad in 2022 and 2023 are employed by the CISSS de la Gaspésie.
The organization is already preparing to recruit around twenty others in the region and hopes that modular homes will become an additional argument to attract them.
With information from Roxanne Langlois.