Seniors should be refunded for services lost due to COVID-19, advocacy group says

A group that advocates for seniors' rights in Quebec is calling on the owners of private senior's residences to reimburse their tenants for services they lost as a result of COVID-19 health restrictions. 

Services like swimming pools, recreation rooms, dining halls, and gyms are included in the leases of those tenants, but the amenities were inaccessible throughout much of the pandemic, said Pierre Lynch, the president of the Association québécoise de défense des droits des personnes retraitées et préretraitées (AQDR). 

"They're entitled to a refund," Lynch said on CBC's Daybreak. "A contract, whether it's for elders or anyone else, has to be respected."  

Private seniors' residences (RPAs) provide housing to autonomous seniors, and differ from long-term care homes (CHSLDs), which are for those requiring more advanced care. 

"I would really like these owners to think about the fact that when it gets to their time and if they would face that kind of roadblock, how would they appreciate it?" Lynch said. "I don't think they would." 

How much each tenant wants to be reimbursed depends on the cost of rent and the amenities they couldn't access. For many, it equals roughly 10 or 15 per cent of their monthly rent, he said.

Meanwhile, a Quebec organization representing some RPA owners has made it clear they don't intend to reimburse those tenants, arguing they should be exempt because they were forced to comply with government regulations.

"We didn't save money," said Marc Fortin, the president of the Regroupement québécois des résidences pour aînés (RQRA).

Instead, owners had to pay more than usual to hire more staff to ensure they were complying with the province's COVID-19 restrictions. 

"If you wouldn't follow those directives, you would be fined. You would lose your certification and the government would shut you down," he said. 

Fortin added that over 100 RPAs closed over the last year, and says reimbursing tenants could force more to close. 

Some tenants living in RPAs have gone to Quebec's housing tribunal (TAL) throughout the pandemic to ask for rent reductions to make up for lost services, and some have been successful. 

Fortin argued the tribunal is looking at the situation as a contractual matter without considering the province's state of emergency.