QUEBEC: More than 2,000 households in Canada’s Quebec province are reportedly struggling without a permanent place to live even after July 1 (Moving Day), the traditional day for lease renewals and relocations. These figures highlight that the housing crisis in the province remains critical.
According to the latest data from the Société d’habitation du Québec, 2,039 renting households are currently waiting for assistance from housing search services to find new homes. At this time last year, the figure stood at 1,899 households. Out of these, more than 476 families are currently staying in temporary shelters or couch-surfing at the homes of friends and relatives.
The tenants’ rights advocacy group ‘FRAPRU’ pointed out that despite an increase in the province’s vacancy rate, the root cause of this crisis is the severe shortage of rental housing that ordinary people can actually afford. Véronique Laflamme, a spokesperson for the organization, said in a statement that simply constructing new buildings will not solve the problem, and that there must be a focus on building units with rents lower than the median market rate.
The Montérégie region recorded the highest number of displaced renting households this year, with 411 families. There are 299 cases in Quebec City and 279 in Montreal. Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada stated that evictions are on the rise in the city, noting that roughly 35 percent of the households staying in city-funded hotels were evicted for non-payment of rent.
With the provincial election just months away, FRAPRU demanded that the next government make affordable housing projects a top priority. They also accused the ruling CAQ party of neglecting traditional social housing models. However, the office of Housing Minister Karine Boivin Roy denied these allegations. Spokesperson Arslan Tifouri stated that the government has invested $11.6 billion in the housing sector since 2018, completing thousands of low-cost homes. The government also clarified that strict regulations have been introduced to protect tenants.
