Several Quebec cities that are having difficulty reaching their housing targets are relying on innovative measures to try to thwart the repercussions of a “perfect storm” created by the inflationary context and financing programs that are struggling to respond. on demand.
The housing crisis in Quebec has long been associated with Montreal. But rents have increased so quickly in recent years in Gatineau that it now costs more to live there than in the metropolis. The average rent reached $1,269 last year for a two-bedroom unit in Gatineau, compared to $1,022 in Montreal, according to data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
However, the question of housing had occupied very little space in the electoral commitments of France Bélisle, who had to correct the situation in the months following her election as mayor, in November 2021, in a context of rising homelessness in this city where unprecedented real estate speculation is rife.
“The City of Gatineau is currently facing a “perfect storm”,” summarizes the president of the executive committee, Daniel Champagne. More than 1,300 households are also on the waiting lists to obtain subsidized housing from the Outaouais Housing Office.
In response to this situation, the City of Gatineau set up a “shock committee” in March 2022 to tackle the housing crisis. This has since made it possible to release, with the support of Quebec, the sums necessary to advance certain social and affordable housing projects. “We currently have more than 1,000 doors that we are monitoring closely,” says Mr. Champagne, in reference to various social real estate projects whose progress the City is supervising.
At the same time, the City of Gatineau intends to present regulatory changes next week aimed at reducing delays in the delivery of permits for housing construction. It also wishes to offer tax incentives to developers carrying out affordable real estate projects, in order to stimulate their completion.
“In our city center, with our new housing strategy, developers could have a 10-year tax holiday if they create social housing,” explains Daniel Champagne.
The situation in Gatineau is also reminiscent of that of Quebec, where the City adopted an action plan this summer to stimulate the creation of new housing on its territory. It thus intends to increase the heights authorized for real estate projects in certain neighborhoods, in particular along the route of the future Quebec City tramway.
The City has also acquired a “land reserve” with the aim of acquiring land in these “key sectors” where affordable housing could see the light of day, indicates the councilor responsible for homelessness and housing to the executive committee of the City of Quebec, Marie-Pierre Boucher. “We want to show that we are capable of delivering [des projets]that we have strong ecosystems and that we have the capacity and flexibility to innovate,” indicates the elected official, who hopes that the City will thus succeed in approaching its target of building 500 housing units next year. social and affordable per year in Quebec.
An inclusion regulation criticized
The coordinator of the Logemen’occup organization, François Roy, believes that cities should take inspiration from Montreal by adopting an inclusion regulation “to force developers to cede land or include social housing in their projects”.
However, in Gatineau, “there is no appetite for a carbon copy of Montreal’s inclusion regulations, for the simple reason that it does not work,” says Gatineau elected official Daniel Champagne.
Came into force on 1er April 2021, the Regulations for a mixed metropolis of the City of Montreal were intended to stimulate the development of social and affordable housing in the metropolis. As of August 31, only one pproject of 86 social housing units had, however, been approved and put under construction since the creation of this regulation, the vast majority of developers subject to it having preferred to provide financial compensation to the City rather than build social housing or transfer land to it.
In this context, the official opposition to the City, Ensemble Montréal, is wondering how Valérie Plante’s administration will be able to realize its flagship promise to contribute to the development of 60,000 affordable housing units in 10 years on its territory. “Our reading of the City’s public housing policies is that it is a failure,” says the housing spokesperson at Ensemble Montréal, Julien Hénault-Ratelle.
In an interview, the head of housing on the executive committee, Benoit Dorais, ensures that this electoral commitment remains “realistic”. He indicates in particular that the financial compensation that the City amasses thanks to the Regulation for a mixed metropolis – which currently totals nearly 26 million – will be able to help it carry out the financial arrangements for social and affordable housing projects on its territory. The metropolis is building on its “Affordable Montreal Project”, launched last year, to accelerate the construction of housing in the metropolis, adds Mr. Dorais.
“The goal is to identify where things are going wrong, what we can change” in particular in order to reduce the delays and costs linked to the approval of “major real estate projects” by the City, indicates the elected official.
However, this approach “has not been conclusive” until now, agrees the general director of Building Your Neighborhood, Edith Cyr. The Press also reported at the beginning of the month a 34% increase in delivery times for construction and transformation permits in Montreal compared to 2018. “We must ensure that all development is in acceleration mode », says Mme Cyr.
Tax speculation
Laval, for its part, had set itself the target of building or renovating 1,000 social and affordable housing units by the end of 2022, an objective which has been 74% achieved to date. At a time when the City is facing a rapid increase in rents, it is trying to “find more innovative ways to create housing,” says councilor Flavia Alexandra Novac, responsible for housing in Laval.
This is how the City implemented a policy last February allowing it to make some of its municipal land available to organizations wishing to build social or affordable housing there. The City also hopes that Bill 39 from the Quebec government will give it sufficient fiscal levers to realize its commitment to tax vacant land and housing in order to counter real estate speculation.
The City of Longueuil, for its part, committed last year to mobilizing various levers in order to facilitate gentle densification in its territory, which would make it possible to increase the number of available housing units. “This mandate is very well advanced. We are working with the Arpent firm to make it a reality,” indicates Duty the mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier. The City also intends to focus on the acquisition of existing housing on the market to ensure its long-term affordability is maintained.
“Otherwise, as far as social housing is concerned, we made an inventory of all the initiatives that had been developed and we offer personalized support to the projects,” adds Mme Fournier. However, her party did not set a target in this area during the last municipal election campaign, recalls the elected official, because “we are still dependent on government funding for social housing”.