2023-10-03 04:00:00
The housing crisis is endangering the health of Quebecers, warns a group of doctors, who are urging governments to quickly invest in social housing.
• Read also: Access to social housing plays an important role in health
Not enough money for medicine, increase in respiratory or skin infections, general anxiety: doctors are witnessing the devastating effects of overpriced or unsanitary housing on their patients.
” It’s very urgent. There are lives at stake, argues South Shore family doctor Félix Le-Phat-Ho. The basis of health, both physical and mental, is housing. We need a roof. »
Family doctor Félix Le-Phat-Ho and Martin Bécotte from FROHME sound the alarm on the dangers posed by the current housing crisis on the health of Quebecers.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin
25 doctors
He is at the head of a group of 25 doctors who join forces with the Regional Federation of Housing NGOs of Montérégie and Estrie (FROHME) to decry what they see as a public health issue, everywhere in Quebec.
“The health system is where the consequences of lack of funding fall [en logement social] », argues the Dr Le-Phat-Ho, who also works at the Anna-Laberge Hospital in Châteauguay.
A doctor for nine years, housing problems now take an important place in the clinic.
“It’s clear and clear. There is a big difference between the beginning of my practice and today. People can no longer meet their basic needs,” he worries.
Patients who deteriorate
“I have patients in my office who tell me they can’t afford medication, a physiotherapist or a psychologist,” he says, adding that without this care, their condition will deteriorate. This care is not always fully reimbursed by the RAMQ, for example.
“Exacerbated asthma or respiratory infections, due to mold or humidity, these are things we see often,” he continues.
- Listen to the interview with Martin Bécotte from FROHME on Richard Martineau’s microphone via QUB radio :
Regional federation of housing non-profit organizations of Montérégie and Estrie (FROHME)
People who live in unsanitary housing or even homeless people frequently present themselves to the emergency room, underlines the Dr Le Phat-Ho, who also notes that hospitalizations drag on if the patient does not have adequate accommodation to get back on their feet.
“Expenditures are not increasing, but the crisis is getting worse,” laments Martin Bécotte, project manager at FROHME, seeing that Quebec spent, in 2022, the same sums as in 2014 for the construction of social housing.
The latter believes that more social housing would reduce the burden on the health network.
A model that works
Social housing is “a model that has proven itself and helps the population,” argues doctor Félix Le-Phat-Ho, giving the example of the 31 studios recently inaugurated by FROHME.
A former motel has been transformed into 31 social housing units for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LE FROHME
In just 18 months, thanks to rare rapid financial assistance from Ottawa and Quebec, the opening of the studios made it possible to get 31 people off the street.
A former motel in Châteauguay has been transformed into furnished and heated housing, providing shelter to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
The place is not a refuge, maintains Martin Bécotte of FROHME, adding that there is a lack of staff for these establishments. These are accommodations where the rent costs only 25% of income.
“We need programs adapted to the reality on the ground and financial needs,” he says.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LE FROHME
On-site workers also help tenants navigate to the right resources and community services to obtain assistance, if necessary.
“The health network cannot absorb all these issues. It is already submerged,” argues the Dr Le-Phat-Ho. He believes that these services will relieve emergency room congestion, for example.
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