The pressure that tenants are already facing facing significant increases in their rent could worsen with the recession that hovers over Quebec, recognizes the Legault government, which promises to act to meet the demand for affordable housing in the metropolis.
Rents for housing in the Montreal area have increased by an average of 19.7% in the Montreal area between 2016 and 2021, a percentage that reaches 29.2% when only unoccupied housing is taken into account, notes a report. produced by the Institut du Québec published on Tuesday.
The 68-page study, conducted on behalf of Centraide of Greater Montreal and the Foundation of Greater Montreal, also shows that nearly one in four Montreal residents – precisely 24% – spend more than 30% of their income for housing. One in 10 Montrealers allocates more than 50% of their income for this purpose. Workers with low incomes, single-parent households, seniors living alone and non-permanent residents are among those most affected by the lack of affordable housing in the metropolis, notes this report.
“They are caught in unsanitary and often too small accommodation” that they do not dare to leave, since they are afraid of not finding another apartment that they will have the means to rent, notes the president and general manager of the Greater Montreal Foundation, Karel Mayrand, in an interview at To have to tuesday.
People who spend a large part of their rent on housing must also make sacrifices in their leisure, their studies, and even in their spending on food. “The lack of affordable or adequate housing is hampering the aspirations of these people,” adds Mr. Mayrand.
Called to react to this report on the sidelines of a press conference in downtown Montreal on Tuesday evening, the Minister responsible, among other things, for Economic Development and the Metropolis, Pierre Fitzgibbon, assured that he took this issue seriously. “We are very aware and we realize that affordable housing and social housing are important for Montreal. So, we are going to make announcements soon,” said the Minister, who also acknowledged that “the most vulnerable families are currently suffering”, in particular “because we are in a recession”. The latter should also stretch from 12 to 24 months, he said.
An announcement to respond to the housing crisis will thus take place “next week” in the presence of the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, said the minister, without going any further. The Montreal Metropolitan Community will unveil the adoption of its first Metropolitan Housing Policy on Thursday, the details of which should then be known.
A delay to catch up
However, in its 2022-2032 Quebec Infrastructure Plan, the Quebec government has planned to invest some $30 billion in the road network over the next 10 years, “but barely $2 billion in housing,” laments Karel Mayrand. “We have to ask ourselves questions when we put 15 times more money to pave roads than to build housing,” he says.
The construction of social and affordable housing would however make it possible to put an end to the vicious circle of poverty in which thousands of tenants are caught, in Montreal as elsewhere in Quebec, notes Mr. Mayrand. We could thus reduce the pressure on food banks, counter the problems of unsanitary housing and increase the purchasing power of low-income people, which could help to stimulate the economy, he lists.
Our lack of intervention in the field of housing creates problems in the social environment and poverty that will have repercussions elsewhere.
Conversely, currently, “our lack of intervention in the field of housing creates problems in the social environment and poverty which will have repercussions elsewhere” by aggravating the poverty of many individuals, apprehends Mr. Mayrand, according to whom “there is an urgent need to act” to correct the situation.
In Ms. Plante’s office, we welcome the publication of this report, which puts “in the foreground” the issue of the “housing crisis”. “Our administration has recognized the housing crisis since day 1 and is putting in place concrete means to respond to it, in particular through our Regulations for a mixed metropolis, the rent register and our regulations to ensure the safety of housing,” indicates do we say in a statement sent to the To have to in the evening.
“However, the Government of Quebec must accelerate the financing of social and affordable housing projects,” adds the cabinet, which also notes “the urgency” of adapting the programs intended to subsidize this type of project.
The suburbs suffer
The report also shows that it is in the suburbs of Montreal that rents have increased most rapidly over the past five years. This is particularly the case in the South Shore of Montreal. Thus, in the borough of Saint-Hubert, in Longueuil, rents have increased by an average of 69% between 2016 and 2021. This percentage reaches 58% in the city of Sainte-Catherine, in Montérégie.
According to the director general of the Comité Logement Rive-Sud, Marco Monzon, who sat on the working committee set up to produce this report, these rapid rent increases are explained, among other things, by the fact that many Montrealers have left the metropolis in the last few years to settle in the suburbs, where the monthly cost of housing has historically been cheaper, even if it is less and less the case.
“We see that there is a certain catch-up that is being done,” analyzes Mr. Monzon, according to whom “we are reaping the fruit of Quebec’s inaction for years” in the fight against the housing crisis.