Elderly tenants criticize the law that is supposed to protect them when the time comes to contest an eviction and they find themselves in a situation where they have to leave their accommodation with regret. A researcher who documents the phenomenon in more depth notes that the central districts of Montreal are “emptying” of their elderly and that the problem is growing elsewhere in Greater Montreal.
Last November, the building where Michelle, 78, lives changed hands. Two weeks later, the one who has lived for seven years in a 4 and a half in very good condition in Longueuil received a notice of repossession of housing. The fifteen other tenants of the three buildings purchased by the new owner also received notices, with compensation of $1,000 per month remaining on the lease.
Since then, many have left. Workmen are now busy in Michelle’s building to modify the apartments, and the sound of drills echoes between the walls of her apartment.
“The owner wants to make renovations to re-let the apartments at a much higher price. Here, I don’t pay much, ”she says.
Like two other tenants, she decided to fight before the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL). The one who was a teacher for twenty years and who lives alone pays rent of $781 a month.
She has difficulty seeing how she could find accommodation at the same price in equivalent quality housing in Longueuil or Montreal. “The landlord offered me another apartment, but at $950 a month and in a semi-basement,” she explains.
Since 2016, the Civil Code better protects the elderly against evictions, but Michelle does not meet all the criteria: a landlord cannot force the departure of a person aged 70 and over, who has occupied his dwelling for at least 10 years old and whose income is equal to or less than the maximum income allowing him to have access to low-rental housing.
“I don’t feel protected at all,” she laments. He almost made me sick. I wonder where I will go and what affordable housing I will find. My income is no longer increasing. It’s painful, it worries me. »
Seniors who lose their rental housing is a phenomenon that the Regrouping of housing committees and tenant associations of Quebec (RCLALQ) notes “more and more often”, explains the spokesperson, Cédric Dussault. “The more we strengthen the law, the better it will be,” he adds. But what we are proposing is to completely abolish the provision of the Civil Code that allows evictions. »
Former MP and former spokesperson for Québec solidaire Françoise David, who tabled Bill 492 in 2015 to amend the Civil Code, believes, like the party, that the provisions should go further and be better publicized.
At the time, proposing a law with more teeth “was [un projet] unattainable,” says M.me David, because of the trade-offs. The current housing crisis could create a favorable context for change, she believes. However, the current government seems “more inclined to write checks than to adopt structural measures”.
Disintegration of intergenerational diversity
Anecdotes abound, but it is difficult to have an exhaustive portrait of the situation. Julien Simard, postdoctoral researcher at the McGill School of Social Work and specialist in social gerontology, wishes to draw up a statistical and qualitative inventory. He is currently coordinating a three-year research project with researchers from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), the University of Montreal (UdeM), Concordia University and the University of Quebec in Outaouais ( UQO).
The man who submitted a doctoral thesis on the subject a few years ago notes that there is strong pressure on older tenants because their rent is often lower. “In a context of gentrification and real estate speculation, their rent becomes less profitable. We aim to get rid of them in several possible ways,” he says. Some are in theory protected by law, but not all tenants know their rights, and others will still agree to leave for a sum of money.
The researchers are interested in the central districts of Montreal, but also in the cities of Longueuil and Saint-Jérôme, where the “dynamics of pressure on tenants are quite similar”. “Seniors in the central neighborhoods of Montreal have a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads,” adds Julien Simard. Some neighborhoods have really low proportions of seniors compared to other areas. There is an intergenerational social mix that is crumbling. »
Data compiled by the Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal predict that there will be 14.5% of people aged 65 and over in 2036 in La Petite-Patrie, 12.5% in the Plateau-Mont-Royal and 15 .2% in Villeray. Across Quebec, the projected rate is 27.6%, which illustrates this trend well, according to the researcher.
Waiting for accommodation
For her part, Michelle believes that more affordable housing should be built specifically for seniors. “As you get older, you get poorer,” she notes.
Jacques Beaudoin, director of public and legal affairs for the Quebec Housing Network (RQOH), says there are “very long waiting lists”.
The Network offers nearly 55,000 accommodations. Of this number, 24,000 are intended for the elderly, including RPAs, with more affordable rents. “It’s a sector that we’re trying to develop, but it’s not easy, because we have to make housing projects for the elderly viable. Operating requirements are getting more and more expensive,” he says.