Quebec plan to build seniors' homes saddled with delays, rising costs

The Coalition Avenir Québec government's plan to build more seniors' homes continues to be saddled with delays and increasing costs, with the price to build some homes doubling or even tripling in the meantime.

The cost of seniors' homes has been steadily climbing since Premier François Legault's initial announcement during the 2018 election campaign. At that time, about 30 homes were expected to cost a billion dollars — about $400,000 per room.

The price has since ballooned to an average of more than $804,425 per room, for a total of $2.8 billion, according to the latest assessment by the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures (SQI). 

There are six seniors' homes where the cost of a room for a single patients even exceeds one million dollars, including one in Cap-aux-Meules in the Magdalen Islands. The spots for that home each cost nearly $1.6 million.

Ten projects that were to have been completed in March and April have been postponed to an unknown date, according to Radio-Canada.

A new document by the Secrétariat aux aînés du gouvernement du Québec made public on May 3, shows that the overwhelming majority of planned seniors' homes are in ridings held by the CAQ. In total, 91 per cent of seniors' homes on that list are in CAQ ridings, while the party accounts for 72 per cent of the MNAs at the National Assembly.

In the ridings held by the CAQ, the number of available spots is larger than the number of seniors in need of one.

The office for the minister responsible for seniors, Sonia Bélanger, told Radio-Canada that locations for seniors' homes are based on projections of how the population in a given area will age.

"In no way are these political decisions," said Sarah Bigras, the spokesperson for the minister.

Construction see 6-month delay on average

Radio-Canada's compilation of new government data shows that construction for a seniors' home lasts an average of about two years if work is not slowed down by delays. The construction timeline has been under constant review since the CAQ made its key election promise during the 2018 campaign.

The first houses were supposed to offer 2,600 places before October 2022. However, none were delivered on time. Then, the government planned to make 33 homes available before the end of 2022. But only one opened in Sherbrooke.

A total of 18 seniors' homes were supposed to have been completed by the end of April. However, Radio-Canada is reporting that 10 of them weren't, which is the case for most projects in the Lanaudière and Laurentides regions.

Missed deadlines

Most of the projects launched in 2020 and 2021 are not finished. A comparison of the deadlines scheduled for last year with the new data, shows that almost all the sites are delayed by six months on average.

The ministry cited the the overheated construction market, the lack of labour in the industry and the shortage of materials as reasons for the delays.

The SQI pointed to the discovery of a construction problem at the Mirabel seniors' residence, which forced the consortium led by construction company Pomerleau to review its eight other projects.

"The government is not slowing down construction," said SQI spokesperson Francis Martel.

But a builder of one of the seniors' residences told Radio-Canada the Quebec government is exaggerating when it blames the industry for the delays.

The builder told Radio-Canada the government prefers to blame the delays on the construction industry instead of acknowledging their struggles with finding staff. Radio-Canada has agreed to withhold the builder's name because they have a business deal with the government.

In a statement, the office of the minister responsible for seniors said all of the spots for seniors would open, as they are "a commitment from our government."

Gradual openings due to recruitment difficulties

Seniors' homes have been forced to open in stages, because of hiring difficulties, according to the spokesperson for Sarah Bigras, spokesperson for Quebec's minister responsible for seniors, Sonia Bélanger .

The regional health authority in the Laurentians, the CISSS des Laurentides, has been recruiting since February 2022 for five seniors' homes, which must all be completed by the end of June. As of Monday, 31 per cent of the required workforce was still not hired (255 out of 832).

The CISSS des Laurentides foresees that it will take another year before the seniors' homes fully open.

Although most seniors' homes should be opened by the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year, a government document shows that the employees may not be on site until the following year.

In 2023-2024, only 36 per cent of the workforce is expected to be hired. That means only the equivalent of 2,016 full-time positions will be filled, whereas 5,781 are needed.

The Ministry of Health said that even when a building is completed on time, it is still necessary to wait eight to 12 weeks before it opens, to outfit the premises and train employees.

But the delay could be even longer in the summer, warned the ministry, due to reduced teams. For example, the CISSS de Laval is now planning to open the seniors' centre in Chomedey in September rather than July.