The head of housing, Benoit Dorais, thanks The newspaper of having found pitfalls in the balance sheet of his administration, but nevertheless denies having included housing there before they were built.
According to a review made by our Bureau of Inquiry, of the 13,122 social and affordable housing units that the administration says it has built in 4 years, only a maximum of 4,237 new units have been built.
For example, the City included in its balance sheet 237 affordable housing units that will ultimately never be built.
Benoit Dorais recognizes an error and promises that it will be corrected quickly.
“We did not go back to the register to come and correct. On that, I thank you, you allowed us to ask for corrections and I did it as soon as I knew, ”he argues.
Other changes
In addition to removing unrealized projects from its balance sheet, Mr. Dorais also suggests clarifying some of the pitfalls identified by our investigation.
For example, 98 units are counted twice; once for their construction and once because the buyer obtained a home ownership grant.
“The direction I gave is to indicate it in the balance sheet,” he says. Sometimes there is double counting for technical reasons. These are specific cases, but it is very relevant to indicate it. »
He assures that the modification will be made soon and that “people will see that there may be cases”. But these will not be subtracted from the total.
A similar note could also be added for the 89 rooms that have been counted as full-fledged accommodation in student accommodation projects.
“ as honest as possible »
Although a growing number of developers are choosing to pay the penalty rather than make the affordable housing promised, Benoit Dorais judges that it is not premature to put units in his balance sheet that are not built.
“When issuing the permit, we think it’s the most honest deal. It is concrete, there is a promoter who is ready to build. After the project can evolve. If the promoter delivers the units, so much the better they have been accounted for,” says Mr. Dorais.
He claims that this fact was already known before today.
While the City made a distinction between occupied social housing and those under construction in its report available online, this was not the case for affordable housing.
In addition, Mr. Dorais is convinced of finding a solution so that all the social housing still under construction or in design, that is to say nearly 2685 units, see the light of day.
“The Housing Service is trying to find programs to make it happen, even if there is no new money [de Québec]. But it is certain that if there is new money, it would make life easier, ”admits the head of housing.
Relevant existing housing
Benoit Dorais also says that it was clear “from the start” that subsidies for existing housing would be counted in the balance sheet.
However, the extent of this category, which represents nearly 40% of the 13,122 so-called housing units made by the administration, had never been highlighted before today.
“We consider that we are helping people to acquire, those who need help to enter a completely free market,” says Mr. Dorais.
He also points out that the renovation of 1,091 co-op units has a place on the balance sheet, although they are not new affordable units.
“These are homes that would have been lost without our action,” he says. We have saved people who otherwise would have huddled in the real market and would have had trouble. »