2024-01-11 09:00:00
The year 2024 is also likely to be tumultuous for accommodation in a private seniors’ residence (RPA) in Quebec, particularly in the case of people losing their autonomy. For the first time in five years, the number of units for rent in RPAs fell below 137,000.
According to a compilation from the Regroupement québécois des Résidences pour Agieux (RQRA), 89 RPAs have closed their doors over the past nine months. At the end of the year 2023-2024, we should have exceeded a hundred once more, estimates the director of government affairs at the RQRA, Hans Brouillette.
These closures are in addition to the 500 recorded from 2018 to 2022.
Until now, these closures were filled by the inauguration of new residences.
However, for the first time since 2020, the total number of RPA rental units is decreasing. From 137,728 units, it fell to 136,844 last October, a drop of almost 900 units.
This decline will accelerate, because there are no more new projects due to the economic situation and excessively heavy regulations.
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Following the unveiling of the budget of the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, in March 2023, the RQRA estimated that the sustainability of the remaining seniors’ residences [demeurait] uncertain.
Insurance premiums, salaries and sprinkler installations always flash on the RPA radar screen.
Unacceptable evictions
At the Quebec Association of Retirees from the Public and Parapublic Sectors (AQRP), it is estimated that 2,500 seniors will have to relocate in 2023 due to RPA closures.
It is unacceptable that our vulnerable seniors, who sometimes struggle with health problems, find themselves without housing, says the provincial president of the AQRP, Paul-René Roy. The Minister responsible for Housing must include a clause in her Bill 31 which prohibits evictions from private seniors’ residences.
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Paul-René Roy, provincial president of the AQRP
Photo : Radio-Canada
According to the AQRP, the financial compensation proposed in Bill 31 is insufficient to compensate for the psychological following-effects of evictions.
The AQRP asks in particular the Minister responsible for Housing in Quebec to introduce a clause specific to cases of conversion of RPA into standard rental housing.
The clause would stipulate that the essential condition would be that this conversion falls within the framework of the Quebec Affordable Housing Program in order to increase the supply of affordable housing in Quebec, suggests Mr. Roy.
For Linda Caron, Liberal spokesperson for seniors and caregivers, it is urgent that the CAQ take an interest in the fate of seniors who lose their housing due to the closure or conversion of their private seniors’ residence.
According to the member for La Pinière, in the current situation […] Combined with the obstacle course to obtain home support or health services, seniors are increasingly fragile and vulnerable.
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