Nurses in the regions will soon be housed in modular units to address the housing shortage that is hampering the recruitment of health network staff.
Minister Eric Girard’s recently unveiled budget calls for a $5 million investment to purchase and install 20 modular units intended to house healthcare workers.
Quebec states that they are not “followers”. “These are housing modules that can be based on a metal structure or even prefabricated wooden modules in the factory,” writes the office of Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
France-Élaine Duranceau, Minister responsible for housing.
These facilities can accommodate a family of four and have the flexibility to accommodate specific needs.
The concept is reminiscent of the recent announcement of 43 future CPEs to be installed in prefabricated buildings, but also the classes that have been installed in temporary trailers for several years.
homeless employees
This pilot project will allow “quickly to offer housing for workers and their families in a few months […] “, we explain in Quebec.
The Legault government will follow Nova Scotia’s example, which announced an $8 million investment in a similar project in January.
The housing shortage is damaging the health network in the regions. The Journal reported in early March that the arrival in Gaspésie of around fifty nurses from abroad had to be postponed due to a lack of available places.
These reinforcements from Morocco, Ivory Coast, Benin and Algeria, sometimes with their families, were to come and help the region, which needed about 100 additional nurses.
Across Quebec, the Legault government said last year it wanted to recruit a thousand nurses from abroad to fill positions in the regions.
It was not previously known where these first modular units would be used.
In a big way?
If this new approach is successful, Quebec plans to multiply this concept of tiny houses for nurses.
“Through the pilot project SHQ [NDLR : Société d’habitation du Québec] can evaluate this option, its social acceptability and the response of workers before deciding on a larger scale solution to meet all needs,” says Ms Duranceau’s firm.
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