Seniors’ houses | 1.8 million the “door”: I hallucinate or what?

I may turn it over in all directions, this figure does not enter my head: 1.8 million dollars.

Posted at 5:00 a.m.

Or to be more precise: $ 1,783,333.

This is the average construction cost of each room of the future house of the elders (MDA) of Sainte-Élisabeth, a village located near Joliette, in Lanaudière.

The equivalent of a respectable house in Mont-Royal, Boucherville or Sillery. For a room in residence!

The conversion of an old 42 -seat MDA convent was weighed down by the classic ailments of public projects. It had to cost 47.7 million – 1.1 million per room -, but its budget was smashed by 26.5 million along the way.

Small calculation error. Oops.

The scheduled date of entry into service has increased from April 2024 to June 2026 in the meantime. And the counter always turns …

This case is extreme, but not isolated.

The major MDA project, one of the flagship projects of the Caquist government of François Legault, has all the appearances of a financial chasm.

We have talked about it less lately, when fresher scandals have monopolized media attention. (Hello, Hospital Maisonneuve-Rosemont. Allô, Saaqclic. Cuckoo, discount of the Quebec state.)

But the journalist of Duty Marie-Michèle Sioui had the good idea to bring the subject back in the news¹. His observation is as sad as it is unacceptable: the invoice continues to climb, both for new constructions and for the conversions of old CHSLDs to MDA.

And the geographic distance of certain sites does not explain everything, as it is necessary. Projects carried out in Montreal also make the body skipped, with average costs of 1.1 million per room.

How could we get there?

And why is the invoice so exorbitant, while fairly similar projects can be carried out in the private sector for about $ 300,000 per room? (You read that right.)

The explanations given by the Quebec infrastructure company (SQI), which pilot the file, have confirmed this to me: a good part of the invested dollars are not in the brick or the mortar.

The SQI provided me with a ventilation of the costs of the MDA Jeanne-Leber, under construction in the east of Montreal. The invoice for this 288 -seat residence is estimated at 238 million.

First, the land is free: it already belonged to the Ciusss. Construction work will cost 142 million, which includes specialized and medical fixed equipment.

The “external costs” (design, professional services in architecture and engineering, plans and quotes, specific studies, pre -construction, etc.) will reach 41 million. And the costs of project management, financing, taxes and other fixed assets will swallow 54.8 million of the budget.

In other words: almost $ 100 million will not be used for construction itself, but rather to absorb a multitude of other costs.

This kind of related fees is essential for any site, private or public. But the experts to whom I spoke are unanimous: it is far too high in the case of the MDA.

Desperately high.

Of course, building a house of the elders has its share of peculiarities compared to a classic accommodation building.

There are a certain amount of specialized equipment: sophisticated ventilation systems to avoid the spread of viruses, access ramps, more resistant materials on the surface of the walls, etc.

MDAs also have larger living environments than the ancient CHSLD depressing. So: more square feet to build. They are organized in “households” (or cells) of 12 bedrooms, which each have a common kitchen, a dining room, a living room. The architecture is neat, the materials are noble, lark.

But when we compare the MDA invoice with those of private projects of an equivalent nature, it hurts the collective portfolio of taxpayers.

Philippe Voyer, consultant and full professor of the Faculty of Nurses of Laval University, advised the Legault government from the genesis of the MDA. He also works with community groups and private companies in the field of geriatric care.

An “abundant” scientific literature confirms the benefits of “households” for the health of the elderly, he said immediately. For example: a slower loss of autonomy, less agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and better socialization with family members.

These profits have been undermediatized, it is sorry, due to the astronomical cost of the MDAs which monopolized all the attention. But even this expert is unable to explain the extent of the invoices.

Mr. Voyer cited me several examples of private residences inspired by the concept of MDA “households”. Projects built during the pandemic, during the inflationary period. Their average bill is between $ 250,000 and $ 300,000 per room. From simple to double (or fivefold).

Ouch…

One of them is the CHSLD Manoir Harwood, located in Vaudreuil-Dorion, in the western suburbs of Montreal.

It is a project to convert a former CHSLD, to which 114 new rooms were added, for a total of 150 places. The site was launched in 2019, then interrupted because of the pandemic, before restarting to end two years later.

The residence reproduces the MDA model, with nine -room cells fitted out around common installations. Everything is “in code”, although the finishing standards are a little lower than those imposed by the SQI, said its owner, Jean-François Blanchard.

“I tell myself that yes, you can have a Mercedes, but you can also go from point to to point B in Volkswagen. »»

Total cost of the site, all inclusive: 42 million. The equivalent of $ 280,000 per room. The project would today cost around $ 350,000 per room to build, advances Mr. Blanchard.

A worse step dealespecially since this residence was converted into a private private CHSLD.

In interview with The dutyMinister responsible for seniors, Sonia Bélanger, said she was “surprised” by the high construction cost of MDA. She will “examine all of this” and study each project to come, she promised. But “we will not make the houses of the elders at 1.8 million the door”.

(Note to the Minister: Too late)

In a series of email exchanges, the SQI defended the high MDA invoice. The average cost has been about $ 800,000 per door so far, I was made. More than 2 billion in total.

(Note at the SQI: it’s far from being a boon.)

Small touch of hope on the board: Quebec is reviewing its financial model. The state intends to use prefabrication and other techniques to reduce costs.

This awareness arrives very late and my degree of confidence is quite low. Unlike the price of MDAs.1. Read “over a million dollars per room in the house of the elders”