‘Unacceptable’: seniors fight against evictions from private residence, report finds 2,500 evicted in a year

More than 2,500 Quebec seniors were evicted from their private seniors’ residences known as RPAs between 2022 and 2023, according to a report by Quebec’s retiree association (AQRP).

Suzanne Cyr and Daniel Bergeron were among them, after getting an eviction notice from the Mont-Carmel residence in downtown Montreal in January 2022. They’re now fighting to make sure this doesn’t happen to other seniors.

“The way they did it is just unacceptable,” said Bergeron. “You just don’t throw old people on the street that have nowhere else to go.”

It came as a shock for them. “Somebody was crying, I didn’t believe it,” Cyr said.

“I was so surprised,” Bergeron said. “We were stunned because the old owner, when he sold the place, included in the sales contract a clause saying that it would remain an RPA and so we didn’t expect any of this business to start.”

The two never thought they would be told to leave Mont-Carmel, which they described as “paradise.”

“We didn’t want to move from there at all because it was living up to all our expectations until that day,” said Bergeron.

The couple says after the new owner took over, they received their eviction letters, as the RPA’s status was being removed. They had six months to leave or stay on as tenants in the building, but with higher rent and no services.

“Some of us, we could leave and it was better for us to leave,” Bergeron said. “But some people just can’t. Some people died, some people got depressed, some people are still there because they can’t move, they’re too old, they can’t find a place, and they have no choice.”

The AQRP is asking Quebec’s Minister responsible for housing to include a clause in Bill 31 – a housing reform bill being studied in parliamentary commission – to prohibit evictions in private seniors’ residences or make sure a conversion of an RPA into rental units is done in good faith.

“In the proposed law, the only thing the government stipulates is compensation that needs to be given to evicted tenants,”  said Paul-René Roy, the AQRP president. “Currently, it’s the equivalent of three months of rent, and they’re looking to make it 24 months. But an allocation does not replace housing.”

The AQRP’s report also found 88 RPAs closed their doors between October 2022 and September 2023, which the Quebec government says must be slowed down. 

In a statement from Quebec’s Housing Ministry, they say: “The Minister responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger, acted to protect senior tenants by increasing the time that owners have to give notice to their tenants to nine months. […] On the housing side, we are working on concrete solutions to increase the housing supply. During the last economic update, we announced an investment of $1.8 billion for the construction of new social and affordable housing.”

Bergeron says he wants to see existing housing for seniors remain as they are if they are working well.

“It’s important to build new housing, but right now, it’s just as important to keep what’s working,” he said. “People who live in RPAs should be protected from that kind of action.” 

Dozens of residents refused to leave Mont-Carmel, and are in a legal battle against the owner, Leyad, a real estate property management company. We tried contacting the company, but could not reach them for this report.

Meanwhile, Cyr and Bergeron are organizing meetings at their new residence, helping accompany their former neighbours through the legal process. Several court dates are planning for May and July.

“I want to do it because these people I love them,” Cyr said.

For Bergeron, it’s about being an example of resisting evictions.

“We’re trying to find solutions that could be applied to us, and hopefully to other residents, which is the goal of this all,” he said.