When real estate stress affects even toddlers, to the point of affecting their development, we say to ourselves that we may be escaping it, and with confidence. By emphasizing the concerns of a staggering number of families to find accommodation at a reasonable price in a decent space, the Observatoire des tout-petits crystallizes an impression already made clear by the accumulation of headlines: nothing is going right anymore. in Quebec on the real estate front. This is true for renting, but it is also true for buying, from which a growing number of employees are excluded, including among the well-off.
For many families, this stress is very concrete. Especially among tenants, where three out of five families claim to have had to change their habits because of the rising cost of living. This proportion rises to three out of four in single-parent households. And this stress is likely to become even more concrete as the waltz of removals makes its first hiccups heard. The Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal already knows that, among the 80 or so households presently under its wing, about 30 may have to be lodged urgently at the hotel on 1er July. See more.
Quebec showed off by presenting its emergency plan: ready earlier, in May, but above all better stocked (77 million against 60 million the year before) in addition to providing for the extension of the schedules of the personnel of the Société d’ habitation du Québec so that he could answer the phone 7 days a week at the height of the crisis. Several municipalities are also on a war footing. With good reason: the crisis is acute.
Still, we have the unpleasant impression that we will once again be content to put out fires that hide a deeper evil. The house bears the cost of wars of chapels which go beyond the eternal dialogue of the deaf between tenants and owners. Both camps are teeming with excellent ideas. Yes, we would really benefit from setting up a public register of rents and adopting a solid housing policy as demanded by the former. Yes, enhancing the maintenance and renovation of the housing stock and easing the regulations to make intergenerational housing models flourish as the latter wish would pay off.
And that’s the rub. Our decision makers, busy as they are to pull cover from their side, do not play their role as arbiters and good heads of families capable of channeling energies and launching structural reforms. There are countless disputes between Quebec and Ottawa in this fundamental field, the jurisdiction of which is the subject of tough negotiations. The latest is truly shocking.
The Trudeau government has released $108 million, on its terms, to fund 5,900 social housing units in Montreal, which badly needs it. The Legault government said it was a taker, but also on its terms, which are not those of its counterpart. Result: four years after the creation of this National Housing Co-Investment Fund, the two are still struggling with the templates for the forms for granting funds! Projects that are nevertheless solidly attached are thus frozen, collateral victims of a war that can only be described as childish in such a time of crisis.
Chicaneux, Quebec would also be reluctant to honor commitments made within the framework of AccèsLogis, a program which it abandoned in favor of another intended for the construction of affordable housing by the private sector, accuses the City of Montreal. The cabinet of the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing denies it, saying on the contrary that the metropolis has had its due. Who is right, who is wrong ? Given the status of the hundreds of social and community housing units taken hostage in this case, we dare to say that the important thing is elsewhere.
The let-go has indeed lasted long enough. Blindness too. Finding a decent roof is no longer the business of a margin: people from all walks of life are affected by the crisis, when the average vacancy rate for all of Quebec falls below the equilibrium threshold. In intermediate cities like Granby, Drummondville, Rouyn-Noranda, Joliette or Rimouski, the vacancy rate is as low as 0.5% or less. Even crowns fade. An analysis of ads posted on Kijiji by The duty indeed shows that the North Shore is now more expensive than Montreal for families. Never seen.
Quebec is ripe for a major project. We are pinning a lot of hope on the Housing Summit, announced this week by the Mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, and the Mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer. On August 26, elected officials, but also community representatives, entrepreneurs and academics will explore “three families of solutions” to get Quebec out of the crisis. Having a home is not just a fad, it’s a fundamental right. Let’s hope that the latter will take advantage of this to bring the human – and collegiality – back to the center of the debates.