Social housing | The CAQ lacks ambition

The Coalition avenir Québec may try to close its eyes, there is a social and affordable housing crisis in Quebec.

The Legault government – ​​like others before it – does not take the housing issue seriously enough. Last Friday, the CAQ unveiled its first election promise, devoted to social and affordable housing. This promise lacks a lot of ambition:

• The CAQ is committed to spending 1.8 billion over four years (2022-2026), while it has just spent 2.1 billion for four years (2018-2022). 1.8 billion is 300 million less compared to the last mandate.

• It undertakes to build 7,200 social housing units while there are 37,149 households on the waiting list for social housing (including 23,529 households in Montreal).

• It provides for the delivery of 11,700 housing units (7,200 for social housing, 4,500 for affordable housing) within four years, while its objective for the last mandate was to “unblock” the delivery of 15,000 units. (With a bit of luck, the CAQ will succeed in unlocking these 15,000 dwellings by 2023. By playing around with the numbers a bit, because there are certain projects in both the 2018-2022 promise and that of 2022-2026 .)

In short, if the CAQ is re-elected, it intends to do less for social and affordable housing than in the past four years. In the midst of a housing crisis, it must be done…

And yet, Prime Minister François Legault seriously affirmed on Friday that his electoral promise, which is based on figures from the Ministry of Finance, “should solve the problem of the lack of social and affordable housing”.

Without offering concrete proof, Mr. Legault claims that there are duplicates on the waiting lists for social housing (people would be registered in more than one region). A surprising assertion because the criteria for registering are quite strict (eg proof of residence for 12 months) and the lists are updated “periodically”.

If there is a significant problem of duplicates, that Quebec proves it and updates the waiting list by redacting the duplicates. For the moment, the argument does not convince anyone, and Quebec’s calculations make no sense.

It’s quite simple: if we built 37,149 social housing units during the next mandate, they would most likely find takers (the FRAPRU, which defends low-income tenants, is asking for 50,000 new social housing units in five years).

The CAQ offers only a fraction of it.

Worse, it wants to do so under its new Quebec Affordable Housing Program (PHAQ), created last winter to replace AccèsLogis.

The PHAQ has many flaws.

First, it will no longer grant Montreal at least 36% of the sums (as with AccèsLogis), which corresponds to the proportion of low-income families in Quebec who live in the metropolis. Montreal will be at a disadvantage.

Second, it works by calls for tenders, which prevents long-term planning and support for housing co-ops.

Thirdly, it opens the door for the first time to private developers, who can build a social/affordable housing building, operate it for 30 years, then end this vocation and resell the building for a profit. Even if Quebec paid 50% of the construction cost.

With housing co-ops and non-profit organizations, housing retains its social purpose throughout its useful life. This is a huge advantage.

The CAQ should return to the AccèsLogis formula, correcting its flaws (eg complex construction standards, inadequate funding since 2009).

But above all, Quebec must invest more money in social/affordable housing. Not less.