Québec solidaire (QS) promises to give Quebecers access to 10,000 houses that would cost 25% less, thanks to a $1 billion Anti-Speculation Fund.
Passing through Longueuil, in the riding of Marie-Victorin, QS spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois pledged to make these properties affordable “without risk and without overbidding” during a possible first mandate.
With the creation of this fund, the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) could buy and restore properties throughout Québec. However, they would be sold at a reduced price to Quebecers, since the SHQ would remain the owner of the land. “The land is public, the house is private,” summarized Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
This is the principle of a flip real estate “upside down,” he explained. ” A flip immovable [c’est un] speculator who buys a house, renovates it and resells it quickly to make a pass of cash to make a big profit, illustrated the aspiring Prime Minister. Imagine if it worked backwards, imagine if we bought houses and then put them back on sale at affordable prices for the middle class. »
Regarding who could benefit from these affordable homes, priority would be given to Quebecers who are buying their first property, said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. Local organizations would then establish the admission criteria.
The government agency would then put the property back on the market at an affordable price for another family.
Of the 10,000 properties that would be accessible, the QS spokesperson did not provide figures concerning the proportion of houses compared to that of condos. “It will depend on the regions,” he said.
It is not a “patent à kid that Québec solidaire invented”, said the solidarity leader, about the proposed model. The latter is similar to the community land trusts that appeared in the 1970s in the United States. They have mainly developed in the state of Vermont.
Generation gap widens, says QS
For Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, current real estate speculation “threatens to deprive an entire generation of access to property”. “Since 1990, house prices have risen six times faster than wages worldwide. It no longer makes sense. »
Some regions are worse in terms of access to property than others, acknowledged the leader in solidarity. But the rise in the number of young people needing their parents’ help to buy a house speaks to the current problem, according to the QS spokesperson. “It’s a brake on financial autonomy,” he lamented.
If protecting “10,000 houses from speculation” would be good for the families who will benefit from it, it would also have the effect of “calming the real estate market in general”, underlined Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.