In an article published on June 41, The Press reported the story of a 70-year-old man who died in his car after being evicted from the apartment he had lived in for 30 years.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
This tragic story is unfortunately far from being an isolated case. The last year has indeed been marked by several news items concerning a variety of households – often among the most vulnerable: seniors, families, people in precarious situations – evicted following the purchase of the properties they live in by private companies. or individuals. The latter retype them with the avowed aim of renting them out at unaffordable prices for people with low or modest incomes.
A few days from 1er July, when many households worry about where they will stay, it seems more than ever that history is set to repeat itself endlessly.
The law prevents a landlord from evicting a tenant over 70 if he has lived in his apartment for more than 10 years, as was the case with Mr. Robitaille, who died in his car. But this remains minimal protection, far from applying to all tenants, and it is still necessary to have the resources and the energy to wage a legal battle before the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) against wealthy and unscrupulous.
Get out of the logic of the commodification of housing
Beyond legal protections, non-profit housing is a solution of choice to prevent and stem housing crises.
In fact, non-profit housing organizations are not looking for profit: they manage housing sheltered from real estate speculation by guaranteeing affordability and security to tenants in a sustainable way. Unlike HLMs, which are managed by the State, housing NPOs are administered by boards of directors whose members come from the community. They offer extraordinary development potential. Beyond providing a roof for many people – 20,000 households on the island of Montreal – these community housing organizations also help counter people’s isolation and help create inclusive living environments.
The Quebec government, which is lagging behind in the construction of social and community housing, probably finds that these investments are too expensive.
However, a study by the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ)2 on the impact of social housing programs for seniors estimated that these programs saved the State $103 million per year, just for this clientele.
In addition, the Quebec government has just invested $280 million over four years in an interdepartmental homelessness action plan to support more and more people who find themselves on the street or almost because they no longer have alternative housing solution, like Mr. Robitaille. In short, not intervening upstream will be costly to taxpayers downstream. It is also a public health issue.
Proven experiences elsewhere in the world
The idea of a non-profit rental market may seem preposterous or even assigned to very specific clienteles who represent only a tiny part of the population. Nay! Other countries have chosen to acquire non-profit housing stock in order to maintain the quality of life of their citizens. In Denmark, where the population is smaller (6 million) than that of Quebec (8.5 million), there are more than 500,000 non-profit housing units, while in Quebec, we have about 185,000 (including housing NPOs, cooperatives and HLMs). In Copenhagen, the non-profit rental market (26%) exceeds private rental (20%). While in Montreal, barely 10% of housing is non-profit. In Vienna, it’s 60%. We can certainly do better.
Stories like that of Mr. Robitaille and like those of the hundreds of families who will still find themselves on the streets the day after the 1er July are far from inevitable. It is up to us to choose the rental market we want for our cities. Getting out of the commodification of housing as much as possible is also proof that we can live in our cities differently.