In addition to the Mont-Carmel residence, located in downtown Montreal, Gestion LRM also bought the Château Beaurivage complex, two of the three towers on Gouin Boulevard will lose their vocation as a residence for seniors. This change will also lead to the relocation of dozens of elderly people.
Posted at 6:32 p.m.
This week, The Press told the story of the elderly Mont-Carmel, a seniors’ residence located on René-Lévesque Boulevard in Montreal. This 221-unit building, acquired by Gestion LRM in December, will be converted into standard housing and its residents received an eviction notice on Monday. They will be able to stay on site, but with a rent increased by 3% and they will no longer have adapted services.
A reader informed The Press that the residents of Château Beaurivage, a large complex located on boulevard Gouin Est, had also received an eviction notice some time ago.
Éric Barbeau, who does press relations for Robert Kunstlinger, owner of Gestion LRM, confirmed the information. Gestion LRM also bought the three towers of Château Beaurivage this fall; two of them will lose their vocation as a residence for seniors, the other will keep it.
Mr. Barbeau said that the entire complex currently has some 400 residents.
The change of vocation, notably made necessary by a high vacancy rate, he says, will take place on 1er June 2022 and the announcement was made to residents in November.
People who leave will have compensation of three less rent. Those who remain as tenants will pay the same rent, but they will no longer be entitled to the same services.
The Château Beaurivage is located in the Boulevard Gouin sector where there are a large number of high-rise residences for the elderly.
The place was the subject of a documentary directed by Denys Desjardins, whose mother lived there. The documentary premiered on March 4, 2020, days before the start of the pandemic.
Between 2015 and 2019, i.e. before the pandemic, 430 residences for the elderly closed their doors, a hemorrhage caused in particular by the shortage of labor as well as by the obligation to install sprinklers (following the tragic fire of the L’Isle-Verte residence, in 2014).
The COVID then gave a hard blow to this industry which received special government assistance during the pandemic. Many seniors are now afraid of living in a residence, which is leading to a rising vacancy rate.
The office of Marguerite Blais, Minister responsible for Seniors and Caregivers, indicated that they had concentrated assistance programs on small residences (about 74% of RPAs in the province have less than 100 units, it is specified) so that seniors can stay in their community, often villages or small towns.
According to Radio-Canada, the Sisters of Providence have invited many seniors from Mont-Carmel to come and live in their own seniors’ residence in the Plateau Mont-Royal.