A young thirty-year-old from Quebec who waited seven years to have access to housing adapted to her disability is delighted to finally have a home to welcome her family for the first time at Christmas.
“This is a great first! It’s something I would never have imagined before now,” says Andréanne Gagnon, 33, with pride.
Suffering from cerebral palsy since birth, which affects her body movements and muscle coordination, she needs daily help getting up, getting dressed, going to the bathroom and preparing meals.
A little over a year ago, she moved to the O’Drey Group, a new housing non-profit in the capital which includes 40 housing units adapted for people with reduced mobility.
Mme Gagnon has a three and a half with auxiliary services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Entertain at home
On December 29, she will receive her extended family in a rented room on the same floor: around 45 people will be present, including her uncles, aunts, cousins.
His loved ones will help him cook in preparation for the party which will take place in a “potluck” format.
“People will be able to see my home at the same time,” she enthuses, emphasizing that living alone in an apartment requires a good dose of adaptation.
She explains that she made a request in 2016, even though she was not yet ready, knowing that the waiting time for this type of housing could reach 8 to 10 years.
She finally waited seven years, a delay that does not surprise André Castonguay, general director of the Réseau québécois des OSBL d’habitation.
“It can take a very long time to have subsidized housing adapted to your needs. In recent years, it took a long time to be able to unlock projects with the Accès Logis program,” he explains.
“Lucky”
However, there is no centralized register that would allow us to know the average waiting time in the province.
One thing is certain, Mme Gagnon was “lucky” since the O’Drey project came to fruition at the right time, he believes.
“I preferred to choose what will happen to me, because sometimes life chooses for us,” explains the latter.
She talks about her parents who are aging and the fear of ending up in a long-term care center (CHSLD), for lack of other options.
A sword of Damocles that hangs over the heads of many people on waiting lists that are far too long, according to Linda Gauthier, consultant for the Regroupement des activists pour l’inclusion du Québec.
“Waiting seven years doesn’t make sense. […] The housing stock of adapted housing is extremely limited throughout Quebec. This is even more true outside major centers,” she denounces.