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."

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.