In this period of housing crisis, even rents that are supposed to be affordable are not spared from steep increases.
Among the apartments managed by the Société d’habitation de Montréal (SHDM), a paramunicipal organization, some will see their rent increase by more than 10%, due to increased taxes, insurance premiums and maintenance work. and renovation.
For the past three years, the company has decided to cap its increases at 4%.
The average increase for this year is 5.45% for the entire real estate portfolio managed by the SHDM, which includes 3,771 apartments. But for those who face above-average increases, the pill is difficult to swallow and the budget may be difficult to complete. In particular, the increase will exceed 10% for 193 households.
In the Le Rigaud building, located on Sherbrooke Street, in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, where tenants over the age of 55 live, rents will increase by 6.8%.
“Many tenants here are just a little too rich to qualify for government assistance, but they are too poor to be comfortable and they will have difficulty paying this increase,” laments Irène Mayer, president of the Tenants’ Committee of the Rigaud.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The president of the Rigaud Tenants Committee, Irène Mayer
She herself will pay nearly $1,000 per month for her studio on 20e floor of the building, once the $60 increase is applied.
The SHDM retorts that “Rigaud rents, after increases, remain at 77.8% of the market rent in the sector for this type of building and therefore remain affordable,” indicates the communications manager, Julien Serra.
Taxes and insurance are skyrocketing
“For our residential portfolio, taxes increased by 5.57%. As for insurance premiums, they increased by 18.56% between 2022 and 2023. Work in the buildings also explains the increases,” he continues, to justify the fact that the SHDM could no longer afford to limit rent increases to 4%.
For Benoit Dorais, responsible for housing on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, the SHDM acted in an “exemplary” manner in its calculations on the increase in rents and in communicating this information to tenants.
He emphasizes that the organization followed the rules of the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) to justify the increases, that it wrote twice to the tenants of the Le Rigaud building to explain the situation to them and that it provide them with all the necessary evidence.
We understand that, for the 193 households who have increases of 10%, this represents additional amounts each month, but some have had increases of only 2 or 3%.
Benoit Dorais, responsible for housing on the executive committee of the City of Montreal
The paramunicipal society administers affordable housing buildings intended for people over 55 and others available to all.
For apartments occupied by an older clientele, the average rent is $883, which represents 71% of the median rents for comparable buildings on the market. In the other SHDM buildings open to all, the average rent is $768, or 72% of the median market rents.
The SHDM also has buildings that accommodate more vulnerable clients, such as rooming houses, which are managed by other organizations. The average rent there is $654, or 69% of the median rents on the market.
“They manage to keep rents at 71% of market prices, without subsidies, so that’s very appreciable,” emphasizes Benoit Dorais. And their tenants are certain that they will not be “renovated”. »