Social housing | The CAQ penalizes Montreal and the most disadvantaged

Should the Government of Quebec take some of the money from social housing in Montreal – money for the less fortunate – in order to build affordable housing for the middle class elsewhere in Quebec?

Such a decision makes no sense in terms of social justice.

Yet this is what the CAQ is doing.

Let’s summarize. Since 1997, Quebec has been financing social and affordable housing projects with the AccèsLogis program. Quebec finances 50% of the bill for a project, the cities at least 15%, and the rest of the capital comes from a mortgage on future rents.

Traditionally, Quebec reserved between 35% and 40% of AccèsLogis units on the island of Montreal. Normal: Montreal is home to 36% of low-income families in Quebec. In 2018, the Couillard government had reached an agreement guaranteeing between 36% and 40% of the amounts of AccèsLogis to the City of Montreal.

However, last February, the Legault government created a competitor to AccèsLogis: the Quebec Affordable Housing Program (PHAQ). It operates by call for tenders, which does not provide long-term predictability (everything has to be redone every year). It opens the door to private promoters. And it provides no minimum amount for Montreal. During the first call for tenders in June, Montreal only harvested 25% of the units (roughly its proportion of the Quebec population) for 2022-2023.

Second frankly annoying aspect of the PHAQ: Quebec will probably finance less social housing for the poorest in order to finance more affordable housing for the first half of the middle class.

An AccèsLogis project must have 50% social housing units for the most disadvantaged (less than $33,500 in income per year for a person or a couple in Montreal; less than $23,000 in Saguenay; it varies according to cities). They receive assistance from Quebec to pay part of the rent. The other 50% of the units are affordable housing (no rental assistance) reserved for the early middle class (income of less than $53,200 per year for a person, less than $75,236 per year for a couple) .

Unlike AccèsLogis, the PHAQ does not provide for a minimum percentage of units for the poorest who receive state assistance for their rent. Some of the tenants of PHAQ projects will be low-income households. 10% of tenants? 50% of tenants like AccèsLogis? Quebec does not know, because it depends on the projects submitted. It’s not a serious plan.

Quebec recognizes that the PHAQ is “first and foremost” an affordable housing program, and not social housing for the most disadvantaged.

It’s great to do more affordable housing for the middle class. There are enormous and important needs here. Provided you don’t undress Pierre to dress Paul. Not to do so with the money traditionally devoted to the poorest.

Officially, the Minister of Housing Andrée Laforest says she does not want to end AccèsLogis. She plays on words. In practice, anyone with a new social/affordable housing project has only one option to finance it in Quebec: the PHAQ.

For four years, Quebec has granted $70 million for 500 new AccèsLogis units. For the PHAQ, Quebec has just allocated 300 million for 1723 units only for 2022-2023. Without counting 350 million over three years for a project of 2000 units with the criteria of the PHAQ, in collaboration with Desjardins and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. The message from Quebec is clear: in the future, it will be the PHAQ.

It is therefore crucial that the PHAQ be no less generous than AccèsLogis with the poorest tenants.

But that’s not all.

When he arrived in 2018, the Legault government inherited a big problem with AccèsLogis: 15,000 units were “on the waiting list”. They were financed in theory in Quebec but blocked in practice because there was a lack of financing for the whole project. How is it possible ? In 2009, Quebec had the bad idea of ​​no longer indexing the construction costs of AccèsLogis. In real life, construction costs have increased. Result: instead of funding 50% of projects, Quebec only funds 34%, cities have not been able to fill the gap, and approved (but underfunded) projects have been blocked. The money was therefore sleeping in the coffers in Quebec…

For four years, Quebec has added 227 million per year to “release” 8,100 of the 15,000 units on the waiting list. It was the right thing to do. But here again, Montreal did not receive its fair share, obtaining barely 25% of the envelope. Quebec was even more sparing this year, granting it barely 11% of the jackpot. In 2018, 44% of the projects on the waiting list in Quebec were nevertheless in the metropolis.

Many stakeholders fear that the Legault government will put an end to AccèsLogis once we have completed the last 7,000 projects on the waiting list. When asked if Quebec will again fund new AccèsLogis units, Minister Laforest carefully avoids answering. A silence that speaks volumes…

AccèsLogis is not a perfect program. Some standards were delaying the completion of projects. But when it was adequately funded in the 2000s, more than 1900 units were built per year (between 2005 and 2012). This is more than the first year of the PHAQ.

Regardless of the form that Quebec’s assistance will take in the future, we must ensure that the most disadvantaged and that Montreal will always have their share.