Anne-Marie Jobin, 45, has been paralyzed from the waist down since birth. Last April, this woman’s already very difficult life became seriously complicated: she had to be hospitalized for eight months. While she was in the hospital, her landlord notified her of a rent increase for her apartment in Greenfield Park. The rent went, she said, from $830 per month… to $1,080. An increase of 30%.
Mme Jobin says she never read the document sent by the owner, since she was hospitalized. “I have never seen this document. » She could therefore not refuse the increase and it was clearly considered accepted. And then, last September, she signed a document that terminated her lease. “I misunderstood what I signed,” she says now. It said I had to leave on the 1ster november. I should never have signed this, but now it’s too late. »
Result: the disabled woman must, with the help of a CLSC social worker, urgently find a new place to live. But with the housing crisis raging throughout Quebec, we can’t find an apartment that suits her, at a price she can afford.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Since her health problems in 2022, Anne-Marie Jobin has been confined to her bed.
Confined to her bed, almost a prisoner in an apartment littered with half-made boxes, Anne-Marie Jobin waits, in anxiety, to find a roof over her head. “I am a victim of the housing crisis,” she exclaims. There is a big problem everywhere in Quebec. It’s not just me who has it, the problem! »
Steps taken “properly”
The owner of the building where M livesme Jobin is the YK Realties firm, which has its head office in Outremont. The rent increase transmitted to Mme Jobin reflects “significant work” carried out in the common areas of the building, indicates the building manager, Zev Lowy, who pleads that all the owner’s steps were taken “in accordance with the rules”.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
The Greenfield Park building where Anne-Marie Jobin lives belongs to the firm YK Realties.
“We accepted that the tenant did not pay the rent increase over the last few months. We try to help him, and we always do it through his social worker,” he adds.
I have no intention of ousting her, on the contrary, I am trying to contact her to find a solution. We are in good faith, we wish him no harm. No one wants her to end up on the street.
Zev Lowy, building manager, about Anne-Marie Jobin
For his part, Mme Jobin tells us that her bank statements show that she has always paid rent ranging from $1,010 to $1,080 since July 2023. The last month at $830 was last June.
“We find absolutely nothing”
A file was also opened at the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) in July by the tenant’s father, René Jobin. The latter, who reconnected with his daughter a year and a half ago, is revolted by the conditions in which she has to live. He went to plead his case before the TAL on Wednesday afternoon.
Because of his hospital stay, his lease fell between two stools. Her apartment is in a terrible state, and she is bedridden seven days a week.
René Jobin, father of Anne-Marie Jobin
The CLSC social worker assigned to his case for two months took several steps to find him a new home, testifies Anne-Marie Jobin. “But we find absolutely nothing. We had the door slammed in our faces every time. »
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Anne-Marie Jobin’s home
We tried to speak to the social worker with the agreement of Mme Jobin, but the CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre simply responded by email that it was impossible to comment on this specific case.
“In the context that you describe, a user followed by CISSS home support can be supported in their efforts to find new accommodation,” confirms Martine Lesage, spokesperson for the CISSS. Our social workers then work in close collaboration with the user. They can liaise with housing assistance organizations in order to find solutions or provide references to the user. They will explain to users the steps they must take and closely monitor the progress of the steps taken by the person. »
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Half-made boxes are scattered throughout the home of Anne-Marie Jobin, who is waiting to find a new roof.
In the meantime, CLSC attendants and nurses come four times a day to help Mme Jobin in his daily life. The woman is incontinent, takes around twenty pills a day, and, since her hospitalization, has had difficulty transferring herself in her wheelchair. Nuns who live nearby came to help her pack boxes in preparation for her departure.
This rent increase, this forced departure, is the sky falling on his head, summarizes Anne-Marie Jobin. “Being ousted… I never thought I would experience that. »