In order to accelerate the construction of social housing, Quebec should take advantage of the renovation of dilapidated low-income housing (HLM) to densify the sites where these buildings are located, say tenant defense organizations. For all of Quebec, such a strategy would make it possible to add thousands of housing units to the HLM real estate portfolio, according to them.
Rue Viau in Montreal, a few steps from the metro station of the same name, a building with around forty HLM housing units is barricaded. Seven years ago, tenants had to leave the premises due to the presence of mold. Since then, the windows have been boarded up.
The situation could change in the coming years since under an agreement between Ottawa and Quebec, $3.1 billion was released last June to renovate HLMs in Quebec. The empty building on rue Viau, like the other buildings in Habitations Boyce-Viau, could therefore be renovated.
The Federation of HLM Tenants of Quebec (FLHLMQ) and the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU), however, believe that the authorities should take advantage of the renovation work to add one or two floors to the barricaded building as well as the other buildings in the property complex. Such a strategy would add 70 housing units to Habitations Boyce-Viau, which was built in the early 1970s and has a total of 204 housing units. “We have to kill two birds with one stone,” believes Patricia Viannay, community organizer at the FLHLMQ. “We cannot afford to carry out work and say to ourselves, in ten years, that we should have added a floor. The time to do it is now. »
This formula could be reproduced everywhere in Quebec, because the HLM renovation program will affect 2,879 real estate complexes rated E (in very poor condition) for five years. In Montreal, 244 real estate complexes will be subject to work by 2028. This means thousands of additional housing units could be built, believes Mme Viannay. “In Quebec, there are real estate complexes that are on magnificent sites. There is a lot of space where we could add buildings without harming the quality of life of tenants at all. »
However, underlines Robert Pilon, coordinator of the FLHLMQ, the construction and renovation programs are distinct. “The two don’t work together. This is what we find scandalous. » The 8,000 HLM complexes in Quebec could be subject to housing additions, as was the case in Rosemère, Vaudreuil-Dorion and Granby, adds Mr. Pilon.
A program for offices
Both organizations believe that time is running out. In the province, nearly 40,000 households are waiting for housing from Quebec’s 149 municipal housing offices. They are also asking that Quebec create a specific program for housing offices in order to finance at least 20,000 new HLMs within five years. “Offices are caught in a straightjacket that prevents them from easily developing. In the Act respecting the Société d’habitation du Québec [SHQ], for example, it is not expected that they will be able to use their assets to obtain reduced rate loans. They do not currently have the right to do so, because the SHQ law prohibits them from doing so,” explains Patricia Viannay.
Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for FRAPRU, points out that of the eleven projects submitted by municipal housing offices as part of the Quebec Affordable Housing Program (PHAQ) last year, only one was selected. “This is not a program made for public housing. An additional reason to have a particular program is to ensure that the offices do not work for nothing. We would send them a message that we will finance their projects. »