The shortage of personnel threatens the only halfway house in the Gaspé region. After 15 years of service and a year of unsuccessful efforts to recruit her team, Maria’s Arc-en-Soi will have to close its doors on March 31 if no one comes knocking at its door.
The community house welcomed, on average, about 70 men a year. They were preparing to set foot in the community again after having stumbled, at one point in their lives, into prison. L’Arc-en-Soi helped these men get back on their feet in society.
“Here at Maria, we have never seen the same person twice, explains Lorraine Michaud, general manager since November 2021 of the transition house. We had far more successes than failures. We even had nothing to envy to the provincial reintegration average. »
Since the spring of 2022, Arc-en-Soi has remained closed, due to a lack of staff to fill its small team of 8 to 10 people. The community organization has decided to give itself a few months to recruit and get back on its feet. Two hiring firms and 11 months later, it’s a waste of time: the management positions to be filled remain vacant, for lack of candidates.
“We haven’t received a single resume for the clinical management position, which is absolutely essential to the proper functioning of our house,” laments Ms. Michaud. The labor shortage affecting Quebec, combined with the housing shortage raging in the Baie des Chaleurs, partly explain this impasse, according to the director general.
“People we approached told us that we were too far away or that the salary wasn’t high enough,” she adds. We are a community organization; we cannot compete with the working conditions offered to state employees. The salary of the clinical director of Arc-en-Soi, however, is not miserable: at the maximum level, his hourly rate reaches $34, or nearly $66,000 per year.
At a time when these men need stability, the permanent closure of the halfway house will complicate their reintegration, believes Lorraine Michaud. “We have a drug program at Maria. Guys who need a similar program now have to go to Beauce. Some choose to remain in detention rather than leave their region,” says the director general.
This distance can compromise their reintegration, believes Ms. Michaud. “Someone’s entourage is a key to social reintegration. In addition, when these men arrive in a halfway house, it is obtaining a job that we prioritize. The guy who gets a job at a grocery store in Maria, for example, he keeps his job after his stay. If he makes his transition to Rivière-du-Loup, he will have to leave his job at the end of his transition and come and find another one in Gaspésie. It can be destabilizing. Can we make it easier for them? »
According to the Association of Social Rehabilitation Services of Quebec, halfway houses save nearly $90,000 per year, per person. “In federal custody, it costs the state $120,589 a year, but only $32,037 a year in the community. In addition, explains the ASRSQ, 70% of the residents of these centers find a job during their stay and once again contribute to the country’s economy. »
L’Arc-en-Soi now hopes that a rare pearl will appear by the deadline. “If, at 4 p.m. on March 31, we have an interview and we have someone who matches the profile we are looking for, we will definitely reopen. I am even ready to take on someone retired who would come and lend a hand. Everything, concludes the director general, to remain open. »