Explosion in the costs of seniors’ homes: private CHSLDs to the rescue
Posted May 13, 2025 5:01 pm.
With the cost of seniors’ homes exploding, private CHSLDs under contract are proposing a solution: facilities that are cheaper to build and, according to them, more efficient.
Last week, we learned in La Presse and Le Devoir that the cost per room of seniors’ homes projects could reach as high as $1.8 million, due to cost overruns.
However, in 2020, the cost was estimated at $600,000 per room, and the average for all projects is now approaching $800,000 per room.
Even though this is a key commitment of the CAQ, the Minister responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger, has suggested that she will put things in order and stop projects that are too expensive.
L’Association des établissements privés conventionnés (AEPC) wants to offer the government another, more affordable option, with guaranteed cost control, while more than 3,100 people are waiting for a CHSLD space, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Health.
“It’s increasingly urgent to have additional spaces,” argued AEPC Executive Director Annick Lavoie in an interview with The Canadian Press broadcast Tuesday.
“Our ‘Signature’ project is inspired by the Maisons des aînés, but it’s not exactly the same concept, because there are things that aren’t efficient in the Maisons des aînés,” she explained.
The CHSLD model she is promoting would notably adopt a system of small 12-unit houses, similar to the Maisons des aînés, which could be duplicated on several floors.
The more houses and floors there are, the lower the construction and operating costs.
The “minimum efficient size would be 128 beds,” she specifies.
But certain elements of the Maisons des aînés concept would not be integrated, because “it doesn’t add value for the resident,” believes Lavoie.
However, the values of private CHSLDs under contract and Maisons des aînés are the same: “good treatment, local management, and a human touch,” she asserted.
And above all, in the context of government budget restrictions, private CHSLDs want to offer a turnkey model at a lower cost, argues the AEPC leader.
“We are able to achieve costs below (the construction bill) of Maisons des aînés,” she said.
“In private mode, we have control over costs because we negotiate directly with the builders and architects. We don’t want to end up in the red. We’re making sure the final cost is the one we agree on.”
The AEPC is currently seeking to renegotiate the annual funding rules for its facilities with the government.
The organization is calling for longer-term agreements and indexation that takes into account the drastic increase in operating costs, as facility owners face deficits.
The AEPC was asking the government for $25 million to complete the 2024-2025 budget, otherwise 1,200 spaces risked being closed, but it ultimately received $10 million in emergency assistance in April.
Private CHSLDs under contract are private companies that provide a public service, according to parameters now defined by the new Santé Québec agency.
The monthly fees paid by residents are the same in private CHSLDs under contract as in government-run CHSLDs.
The AEPC brings together 29 owner-managers representing 65 establishments and facilities, including two rehabilitation hospitals.
The Legault government has built 40 seniors’ homes and committed to building 46.
In 2018, the CAQ promised to invest $1 billion to build approximately 30 seniors’ homes and thus fill the 2,600 spaces that were then lacking in CHSLDs.
But according to the latest figures from the Société québécoise des infrastructures, the total now exceeds $2 billion.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
