Of the 130 housing units that were to be ready by the end of September under the Quebec Affordable Housing Program (PHAQ), only 6 were delivered, or 4.6%. The Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, had however said “that a very good number of units” would be added “by the end of the summer”.
In its planning, the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) anticipated the delivery of 130 housing units between July and September. In July, there were 6. Then nothing since.
At the time, Minister France-Élaine Duranceau told the Duty that she expected “that a very good number of units will be added to the balance sheet of PHAQ units by the end of the summer”. The government, she said, wants to “rapidly increase the number of affordable housing” in Quebec.
Despite these seemingly disappointing results, the SHQ remains optimistic. “Minor delays are observed in certain construction sites, but the occupancy of the housing will begin shortly. These delays are considered normal in the current market,” his spokesperson indicated in writing.
“By the end of 2024, 5 other projects should be delivered, representing more than 290 additional units,” he added.
The PHAQ more efficient than AccèsLogis despite everything, according to the SHQ
However, the government has set itself the target of delivering 412 more homes between October and December, for a total of 542 by the end of the year.
Therefore, even if the 290 new apartments mentioned above are delivered on time, the balance will amount to 296 housing units, i.e. below the target.
The PHAQ has been the subject of a multitude of announcements since its creation in 2022. Nearly 6,000 housing units are currently under development and construction.
It was created to replace the AccèsLogis program to accelerate the construction of affordable housing in Quebec.
On the ground, several organizations whose project was selected in 2022 or 2023 as part of the PHAQ describe a journey strewn with obstacles that they must cross to obtain the required financing from the SHQ before starting to build housing.
The SHQ maintains, however, that the PHAQ is more effective than AccèsLogis. “Since the implementation of the PHAQ in 2022, we have observed a significant acceleration in construction starts compared to the AccèsLogis Québec (ACL) program. Previously, almost four years passed on average between the submission of the project and its start of construction under the ACL program, while currently nearly 1,200 housing units have been started through the PHAQ, and this , two years after the first call for projects,” argues the SHQ.
The dashboard is late
Furthermore, the PHAQ’s results are even darker if we rely on the SHQ dashboard, which indicates that no PHAQ housing is in operation.
“It does not reflect the reality on the ground,” said M’s press secretary.me Duranceau, Justine Vézina, in response to questions from Duty.
The delay would result from the fact that the SHQ must carry out certain administrative operations before displaying the housing delivered, she specifies.
Launched in 2022, the SHQ dashboard publishes quarterly data. The current data reflects the situation as of June 30, and we will have to wait until the end of October to know the situation as of September 30, according to Mme Vezina.
In two years, the government has financed 5,692 housing units under this program. At least that’s what its dashboard says.