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Réseau FADOQ invites Quebecers to sign a petition to protect seniors against financial abuse in private seniors’ residences (RPAs).

The petition (only in french) can be accessed on the National Assembly’s website.

“Society is responsible for seniors in private residences that are accredited by the government. Sixty percent of persons aged 65 and over receive an income of less than $30,000 a year. Seniors are limited in their ability to assume excessive rent increases,” says Réseau FADOQ President Gisèle Tassé-Goodman.

While appearing before a parliamentary committee studying Bill 67, the Réseau FADOQ told Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Andrée Laforest that it was opposed to the steps taken by the Regroupement québécois des résidences pour aînés (RQRA) and Groupe Maurice to adapt the generic rent grid published by the Régie du logement.

Their goal is to pave the way for significant rent increases with little recourse for tenants.

“Minister Laforest seems to be siding with RPAs when she says it takes many years for them to become profitable. That’s not true, RPAs are profitable. For example, Groupe Maurice was taken over by Ventas, which has a market capitalization of US$24.3 billion. If RPAs want to be taken seriously, they’re going to have to open their books to show that they’re struggling to make ends meet,” says Ms. Tassé-Goodman.

Réseau FADOQ maintains that if rent increases were based on RPAs’ operating costs, operators would administer their institutions without regard for their profitability, since the bill would be passed on to the tenants.

Facilitate the tenant challenge process

Réseau FADOQ is also calling for provisions to facilitate the process for tenants to contest lease amendments with the Régie du logement, including:

• Allow any legal entity to exercise recourse with the Régie du logement on behalf of RPA tenants, some of whom are dependent on others.
• Prohibit retaliation against a tenant who is challenging the lease.
• Allow all tenants of the same RPA to avail themselves of the effects of a decision rendered by the Régie du logement for the benefit of one of its tenants.
• Enable collective representation before the Régie du logement.