Some P.E.I. seniors bypassed on housing wait list — without even knowing, AG says

P.E.I.'s auditor general says not only are some seniors being bypassed on the wait list to get into government housing, but some may not even be aware they're at the top of the list and keep being skipped over.

Jane MacAdam made the revelation in her 2017 report, released in March, that hundreds of seniors had been passed over on the prioritized list to get into one of the province's 1,245 seniors apartments or to receive a rent subsidy for a private apartment.

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At a recent meeting of the province's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, MacAdam and her staff further clarified, at the insistence of MLA Sidney MacEwen, that those being passed over aren't necessarily aware that's happening.

"There are a number of people … that don't really have any idea that they're being passed over every time," MacEwen told the committee.

Some repeatedly passed over

"I'm trying to close that communication gap. For someone that doesn't have an MLA going to bat for them — someone doesn't have a brother or sister that are trying to get them in — do those people have an advocate for them, or are they just being passed over because they're sitting at home, or wherever they're at and not being realized they're being passed over?" MacEwen continued.

In her 2017 report MacAdam noted certain seniors on the waiting list were being bypassed over and over again.

"We were advised these applicants have addiction issues, behaviour issues, and cleanliness issues," she wrote in the report.

At the committee meeting, MacEwen said some of the reasons seniors were passed over sounded "somewhat discriminatory."

New policy needed?

A member of the auditor general's staff said the auditors were told that in some cases applicants can be referred to other services, but that seniors wouldn't regularly be told if they were bypassed on the waiting list.

The auditor general agreed with MacEwen's suggestion there should be a new government policy to inform seniors when they're passed over, and to try to address any underlying issues such as addiction.

"Whether it's providing more referral services or more communication with these people in terms of their status on the wait list," MacAdam said.

"And the fact that they are maybe getting passed over and communication about why they're getting passed over and trying to deal with the root causes instead of just not communicating and not dealing with it."

New housing strategy next year

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for the P.E.I. Department of Family and Human Services said the province was proceeding through the work needed to address the auditor general's recommendations on seniors housing wait lists, and some of that work is expected to be completed this fall.

"Applications for seniors housing are prioritized based on need and assessment criteria include income, assets, health, age and present housing conditions," the email said. "Those most in need are served first."

The spokesperson said the housing units themselves must also meet the needs of the applicant. "For example, number of bedrooms, whether the unit allows smoking or pets, or whether the unit is accessible for those with disabilities."

The email said tenders for 50 new seniors housing units would be issued this fall, while a new provincial housing strategy is expected to be complete in the spring of 2018.

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