N.L. health authority spent over $2.5M on accommodations for travel nurses in 8 months

Sheltered, a CBC Investigates series, examines the housing crisis in Newfoundland and Labrador — telling the stories of the people living it, while scrutinizing the policies and politics behind it.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is spending millions to accommodate travel nurses in private rentals, as the province grapples with a lack of health-care professionals and a growing housing crisis.

Information provided by the provincial health authority shows over $2.5 million was spent to house travel nurses in hotels, homes and apartments between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31. The largest amount of money was spent in the central region, to cover rent for 129 travel nurses, at a cost of more than $1.2 million.

The eastern region paid nearly $970,000 for 100 nurses and the western region spent the least, at just over $361,000.

Numbers were unavailable for the Labrador-Grenfell region. A spokesperson for N.L. Health Services said it has an agreement for providing accommodations for locum nurses and all other travelling employees but can't break the numbers down for each discipline.

Renters and housing advocates say those agreements are putting an extra squeeze on an already tight market. The health authority says it has little other choice.

Debbie Molloy, N.L. Health Services' vice-president of human resources, says covering the costs of housing travel nurses is essential but temporary, as the province attempts to recruit its own nurses and move away from reliance on private business. 

"At any one time we have within the province somewhere around 200 nurses [who] are needing accommodations," said Molloy in a recent interview.

Rental agreements used for private nurses and locums — obtained through access-to-information legislation — revealed the health authority is spending, in some cases, double the typical rental rate.

For example, the health authority is spending $4,600 per month for a home on Larkhall Street in St. John's. The rental agreement is for a year, at a total cost of $55,200. It does not specify how many rooms are available.

Rent for basement apartments averaged $1,500 to $2,000, with houses fetching an average of between $2,500 and $3,000. Some of the rental agreements included utilities, while others did not. 

The rental games

For people like Brandon Proulx and Megan Goodyear of Gander, those rates are too high to match. They searched for months for an affordable place to live in Gander without luck.

"I found that there was a very large lack of housing available and anything that we came across was outrageously priced," Proulx said in a recent interview.

"Like we're talking $1,000 to $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, which was often not modern, not renovated."

Proulx and Goodyear, who are expecting their first child, eventually found an affordable rental in New-Wes-Valley, 120 kilometres from Gander — and the young couple's support system.

Proulx said it's impossible to compete against agencies like the health authority, who are willing to dish out hundreds, sometimes thousands, over the normal asking rental rate. 

"Everywhere is outrageously priced," Proulx said.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the province last October was $940 a month. A three-bedroom house was $969 per month, on average. 

Focus on recruitment

The health authority is relying on a mix of apartment buildings, hotels and private homes, to give nurses a place to stay. 

Molloy said that's in addition to the homes already owned by the health authority to accommodate travel nurses and locum doctors. 

The rentals are done through a requests for proposals, she said. However, sometimes homeowners contact the health authority directly to say they have accommodations available.

Molloy said she doesn't believe the health authority is paying above market value, and they don't want to squeeze others out of the rental market.

She said she believes the surge in lease accommodations will subside as the health authority recruits more nurses, but said there will always be some need for accommodations, particularly for locums. 

"We want to actually move away from having to use travel nurses and we've been working quite a lot on different recruitment strategies," she said.

"We're quite proud of some of those recruitment strategies that [are] coming to fruition."

In a statement, the health authority said it has recruited more than 170 registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and licensed practical nurse since April 1. It anticipates more nurses to arrive soon from India.

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