In 2022, it is easier in Quebec to be evicted than to be housed. Access to housing is no longer a right, because we are living in a period where the art of being evicted reigns, a kind of far west of the rental real estate sector where the law of the strongest reigns.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
Market rules no longer hold on the traditional basis of supply and demand. I have the impression that our governments, overwhelmed by events, are powerless to counter the current imbalance in access to affordable and social housing.
The paradise of speculators and discrimination
Has the rental property sector become a haven for speculators and discrimination? Everything seems, in appearance at least, to favor the short-term profit of a few individuals and real estate companies to the detriment of the poorest.
Intimidation and harassment tactics have become common practices favoring the eviction of low-income tenants by “renovictions”, of elderly or vulnerable people in favor of speculative rentals such as Airbnbs or by the construction of condo towers .
Added to this is the exaggerated increase in the cost of rents, sometimes bordering on three times the increase in inflation, to which the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) seems powerless to restore a semblance of normality.
The shortage of affordable housing is happening in a context of perfect crisis considering the lack of labor for the construction of new housing, the need to renovate the housing stock often left abandoned, the dispute between the provincial governments and federal funds for the allocation of funds for the construction of affordable housing projects and finally, there is the arrival of thousands of newcomers, who despite the bureaucratic pitfalls of recognizing their status and competence, no longer manage to find accommodation, especially if they have several children.
Revolutionizing access to affordable and social rental housing
The chaos in the housing crisis is well established and I know that governments have put in place various programs for the construction of housing over the next few years.
A few figures: 37,000 people are waiting for social housing in Quebec, and in Montreal, 6,000 affordable housing units are blocked because of a dispute between the government of Quebec and that of Ottawa.
Also in Montreal, 9,000 accommodations are only accessible on the Airbnb site. To make up for the chronic lack of housing and dwellings in Quebec, estimated by the Association of Construction and Housing Professionals of Quebec (APCHQ) to 100,000, I suggest some measures.
First, freeze the transformation of housing into Airbnb in all municipalities that have a vacancy rate of less than 3% of available housing. In addition, add a surcharge to Airbnb reservations of 10% in addition to GST and QST. This tax would be paid into a fund for affordable and social housing that could be managed by municipalities.
Then, create a non-profit organization whose mission would be to manage multigenerational community housing complexes promoting social diversity, as is the case in Quebec with the Vivre chez soi housing complex and the Domaine du parc Savard, two success stories in social innovation.
Finally, nationalize unclassified closed religious sites (churches, presbyteries, disused hospitals and private schools) in order to create a bank of land and buildings that can be used for the renovation or creation of affordable and social housing.
Dislodging citizens in search of a roof has become an economic and social scourge. Governments have a duty to bring order to the real estate rental market.
Let’s hope that the housing summit organized by the mayors of Laval and Longueuil on August 26 will unlock solutions, and this, just before the launch of the election campaign in Quebec, the ballot for which is scheduled for October 3.