Housing groups denounce closure of east-end Montreal seniors' residence

Last October, about 70 people lived in Manoir Louisiane, a seniors' residence in Montreal's east end.

Now, it's a ghost town. The windows are boarded up, and the lights are off.

"The bedbugs, we had plenty of those. The meals were so bad I wouldn't give them to a dog," said former resident Pierrette Cyr.

The four-storey building, built in the 1990s, is located near the Botanical Garden in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The residence had a capacity for 120 residents, about half of whom were over 75.

Since 2019, 583 private seniors' homes in Quebec have shut down, representing more than 12,600 housing units.

Quebec's private seniors' residences, known as RPAs, are facing what the province's RPA association describes as a crisis.

The regional health authority for eastern Montreal received notice last October that Manoir Louisiane planned to close by July 2.

In November, the local health agency, CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, told Radio-Canada it would ensure the residence's closure complied with regulations and residents' rights, promising to do "everything possible to adequately support tenants in their relocation process."

CIUSSS says residence broke the rules

But the RPA ultimately failed to comply with regulations when it comes to the cessation of its activities, according to Clara Meagher, spokesperson for the CIUSSS. She told CBC News that the CIUSSS has "officially informed the administration that it was not acting in accordance with its obligations."

That's because rather than giving residents nine months' notice, residents like Cyr were told in October they had to leave by Jan. 7 — barely three months' notice.

Regardless, the agency's priority has been ensuring residents have access to safe housing.

"Our establishment is very familiar with the residents of RPA Manoir Louisiane," the statement said. "The majority of them were already receiving home care services from us and continue to do so in their new homes."

Meagher said the CIUSSS has been involved since the closure was announced. Residents were offered psychosocial support starting that day, and those eligible for public housing were assessed and relocated with oversight from CIUSSS staff.

"The CIUSSS reiterated to residents, in writing last November, their right to remain on-site after the RPA's closure," Meagher said.

"If they needed support to enforce their rights, we referred them to appropriate resources. All residents were supported, and no one was left behind."

Housing groups decry situation

Housing groups say the situation is an injustice, denouncing the system and calling for stronger protections for senior tenants.

In a joint statement, they accused the CIUSSS and the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve of enabling abusive property owners by failing to act.

"The situation at Manoir Louisiane is a clear example of the failures of the private enterprise model in senior housing and care, where every decision is dictated by profit," said Sébastien Gagné of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux–CSN.

Valérie Campanelli, co-ordinator of the local housing advocacy group Un toit pour tous·tes, said residents suffered "severe abuse and unacceptable living conditions, made possible by the inaction of public institutions."

She said the situation resulted in the "forced displacement of vulnerable seniors from their neighbourhood and blatant violations of their rights."

Manuel Johnson, a lawyer specializing in housing law, told CBC News that senior tenants are particularly vulnerable, even though legal protections exist.

"In my experience, enforcing those protections is very difficult because vulnerable people are often hesitant to exercise their rights," he said.

Manoir Louisiane and its owner did not respond to a request for comment. According to public records, they manage three other private seniors' homes in the greater Montreal area, each with 50 rooms or fewer.

As for Cyr, she has since moved to a new home, still in Montreal, but she said it's hardly an improvement.

"I don't like it," she said. "It's the same, a little bit."