Seniors forced to leave Hochelaga-Maisonneuve retirement home early amid closure controversy

Several seniors at a private retirement home in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve are packing up and moving out months before they expected to.

The regional health authority says 72 seniors and their families were told in October that Manoir Louisiane wanted to stop operations by this summer.

But most of the elderly people at the home were forced out over the holidays.

Just under 10 remain at the retirement home.

"I used to live here," one woman told CTV before getting in a taxi.

"Now I'm leaving. We all have to leave today."

Noovo Info went inside the building and met another woman. She has an irregular heartbeat and wasn't feeling well.

She said she was only warned a week ago that she had to leave.

"I'm very, very weak. I can't move, and we have to hurry up and pick up everything."

The woman added that workers with the retirement home offered her other accommodation, which was too expensive.

"It's more than I can afford, but I'm forced to take it."

She was later taken to hospital.

Members of the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve housing committee were inside the private residence supporting seniors.

Montreal police officers were on the scene responding to a call about their presence.

An organizer with that group, Annie LaPalme, said the landlord has threatened to close the building with several seniors stuck inside if they're not gone by the end of the day.

She added the seniors have active leases and are legally allowed to be here.

The senior's home told CTV News via email that it did not ask the tenants to leave on Tuesday and that these last departures had been planned.

"We have worked very hard to ensure that each resident finds the appropriate residence that respects their budget and level of care."

The health authority says the transition process has to be phased over nine months, meaning an official closure in July.

However, the director of home support at the CIUSSS says the landlord hasn't explained why seniors are being displaced now.

"We have rules to respect. Here, she's kind of breaking the rules," says Isabelle Portelance with the CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal.

The CIUSSS staff was on site helping people find a new place to live.