Montreal, Thursday, April 12, 2018 – Big news: Montreal is increasing its home ownership subsidies for families, which corresponds to the top priorities of this administration as mentioned in a press conference by Mayor Plante.
News which is certainly welcome but which leaves, once again, disabled people on the sidelines. This shows that they are not among the priorities of the Montreal administration.
It’s good to talk about universal accessibility, but it’s not the only concern.
The PAD (Home Adaptation Program) program for the accessibility of residences for people with functional limitations has been frozen at $ 16,000 maximum for years.
The prices of adaptive devices and labor have constantly increased, placing people with disabilities and their loved ones faced with heartbreaking choices such as adapting the bathroom or choosing the patient lift for the bed?
In this program, our first understanding is that there is no measure to adapt housing for people with disabilities who have families.
Laurent Morissette, President of RAPLIQ tells us this: “What is really discouraging is once again the total and complete omission of people with disabilities from the speech. The mayor talks about families, especially young families. RAPLIQ wants to tell him that there are young families including one of the two parents where the two can live with a handicap, when it is not one of their children. What message should we people with disabilities receive? ”
“Yes, people with disabilities have families and it is extremely difficult for them to find either accommodation or buy a house without having to pay astronomical amounts of money to make it accessible. I don’t see any additional measures to help them. Isn’t it also important to keep them in Montreal?” Says Steven Laperrière, Vice-President of RAPLIQ.
Linda Gauthier, Director General of RAPLIQ adds “Adapting a bathroom costs at least $ 15,000. There is not much left to adapt the rest of the house. Should we conclude that keeping families of people with disabilities in Montreal is a lower priority? “
Steven Laperrière adds “If the intention is good, this program should perhaps be combined with the obligation for developers to include more 4 ½ and 5 ½ type housing for families rather than a majority of small housing and making the accommodation easily adaptable at low cost. Demographics mean that the percentage of people with reduced mobility or with disabilities will increase exponentially over the next few years. You might as well think about it now. ”
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For info :
| Linda Gauthier | Steven Laperrière |
|---|---|
| D.G. and spokesperson RAPLIQ (514) 656-1664 |
Vice President RAPLIQ (514) 836-6376 |