Advocates call on Quebec to step in after thousands forced from private seniors' homes

In March 2022, Brigitte Gagné received an upsetting letter from her father's private seniors' residence.

Management at the Manoir Parent in Châteauguay, where her 83-year-old father Denis had been living for more than five years, informed her they were closing down due to financial difficulties. Denis would have to find a new place to live. 

"It was a shock," said Gagné. "We had one month to turn around and to find him another place to stay, so it was short notice."  

While her family was able to get Denis a spot at a public seniors' residence with help from their local health authority, the move was very difficult for him. 

Not only did he lose his card-playing friends, but the change of environment was disorienting. 

"During the night, he wanted to go to the bathroom and he fell," Gagné said, recalling an incident that happened a week after the move. Denis fractured his pelvis and had to undergo a month of rehabilitation. 

"When it's been a couple of years that you're in your room and all the things are in the same place, you know when to get up, where to go. But now it wasn't in the same place." 

Denis isn't alone. 

More than 2,500 seniors were forced  to find a new place to live between 2022 and 2023, according to a new report by the Quebec Association of Retirees from the Public and Parapublic Sectors (AQRP).

The study, made public Tuesday, found that 88 private seniors' residences, known as RPAs in Quebec, closed their doors between Oct. 1, 2022 and Sept. 1, 2023.

About half of those evicted — just over 1,200 seniors — were living in Montreal and Quebec City. 

Call to ban evictions from RPAs

AQRP president Paul-René Roy says the numbers are worrisome. 

"This puts stress on the affected seniors and it could seriously affect their physical and mental health," he said. 

Roy says the Quebec government has an opportunity and an obligation to protect older tenants in RPAs, notably through its new housing bill known as Bill 31. 

As it stands, Bill 31 obliges a landlord who evicts a tenant to compensate them up to one month's rent per year of continuous residence in the dwelling, up to a maximum of 24 months. Roy says that's not enough. 

"Compensation doesn't give you a new home," he said. 

"Inflation is high, housing is not easily affordable, both in terms of price and availability, so … the problem is still there." 

The AQRP is calling on the government to include a clause in Bill 31 banning evictions from RPAs.

It also wants another clause stipulating that an RPA owner who wants to convert a residence into a residential building be forced to have affordable housing units to allow seniors to remain in their homes.

RPA owners struggling with inflation, staffing

Meanwhile, Marc Fortin, head of the Regroupement québécois des résidences pour aînés (RQRA), says it's unfair to lay the blame on RPA owners who are fighting to keep their heads above water. 

He says owners are struggling to find staff and keep up with costs, leaving them no other choice but to sell.

"I get so many calls from owners, they're calling me, they're crying, saying, 'I can't do it anymore, I'm going to lose everything,'" he said, adding he believes the number of closures are even higher than what's reported in the AQRP study. 

He says his group wants to stop the closure of RPAs but says the government needs to step in with more money to pay specialized employees and help manage some of the added administrative work since the pandemic, which discourages a lot of owners from staying on. 

In an email to CBC, the ministry responsible for seniors says it's concerned about RPA closures and is put funding toward helping them.

In its 2023 budget, the government said it would spend $200 million over five years to support private seniors' homes.

In the case of a closure, however, the ministry noted tenants receive help from their local health authority to find a new home.