(Montreal) “It is dangerous that it is so easy to take away a living environment like this from the elderly,” commented Québec solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Manon Massé on Friday, calling on the government to legislate so that no more private residences for seniors (RPA) suffer the fate of the Mont-Carmel residence.
Posted at 2:18 p.m.
Updated at 4:50 p.m.
On January 31, the tenants of the Montreal RPA learned that their home had been sold to a real estate developer, who intends to turn them into standard housing.
If an owner decides to sell, “we must force the maintenance of the RPA vocation of these dwellings”, supported the spokesperson for seniors, Sol Zanetti, at a press conference in Montreal. The deputies were accompanied by three residents of Mont-Carmel.
“We cannot let the owners of RPAs increase the rent as they please,” he added, pleading for a reform of the certification of these establishments.
Residents of Mont-Carmel who would like to stay in their homes will have to pay 3% more rent, without having the services offered by a residence, such as a nurse present 24 hours a day and emergency bells, which allowed many to remain independent.
He also criticized the fact that at the moment, RPAs receive public funds without it being known whether they really need help or how the money is used: “To receive public subsidies […] RPAs will have to open their books to the government. »
“You have to stop subsidizing when there is bad management,” he said.
The cooperative model
Mr. Zanetti also called for RPAs threatened with closure to be able to be converted into cooperatives or non-profit organizations and “that 70% of new certifications be granted to cooperative or non-profit RPAs” (NPOs), which can putting the well-being of seniors first.
He proposed the establishment of a subsidy program for this purpose.
Asked what it would cost the government to finance cooperative or non-profit residences, Mr. Zanetti replied that “an NPO has every reason to manage itself well”, as it “does not need to satisfy shareholders” nor to make a profit.
He also argued that private residences “often provide deplorable working conditions to their employees,” a practice that he says creates a lot of turnover, which “harms the quality of services.”
“It’s no way to save money, not to take care of seniors,” he added.
The office of the minister responsible for seniors, Marguerite Blais, indicated by email that “we take good note of QS’s proposals, however the vast majority of the solutions proposed have already been carried out by our government”.
“We have greatly increased the amounts to small RPAs and NPOs in order to keep seniors in their communities,” he argued, adding that “the situation is much more complex than the solutions proposed by QS and we are working currently looking for new solutions”.
In the 2021-2022 budget, Quebec announced an investment of $387.8 million over five years “to ensure the sustainability of home support services for seniors in RPAs”, including $52 million to allow smaller residences to modernize their facilities.
The fate of Mount Carmel
“We expect the government to legislate. It’s nonsense, it’s anarchy in the service of voracious, unscrupulous real estate developers, for whom the rights of seniors in our society do not weigh heavily in the balance,” said Suzanne Loiselle, tenant of Mont-Carmel.
On that fateful morning of January 31, when an usher came knocking on the door of each resident, what she felt was “the blanket slipping under your feet”.
At a time like this, “you lose your bearings,” she said, remembering that many “didn’t understand, the shock was so great” and that “some were crying in their room, in the elevator “.
There are 221 people who live in Mont-Carmel and who will have to pack up before July 31, or else agree to no longer live in RPA. Among them, she estimates that “three quarters are over 75 years old”.
“We will find some in the street,” warned Marie-Paule Lebel, another resident present at the press conference.
She also recalled that RPAs, “it’s a home support system” that allows people to “not go to occupy hospitals or CHSLDs, which are already overwhelmed”.
But even for those who manage to stay there or find other accommodation, the blow will be hard. “On my floor, everyone knows each other, everyone talks to each other,” she said, citing the various volunteer activities organized by and for the residents. The conversion of the building “will cause total isolation of the people who will still stay in this residence”.
This article was produced with the financial support of the Facebook and The Canadian Press News Fellowships.