1er July is fast approaching. It’s the time of year when the housing crisis is very noticeable and makes headlines everywhere.
According to the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ), with vacancy rates of 0.8% in Gatineau, 0.4% in Rimouski, 0.3% in Alma and Saint-Georges and 0 % in Gaspé and Roberval, once again, families, seniors, students will find themselves on the street, because housing is becoming scarce, and above all, less and less affordable. These are human and social tragedies, and these tragedies are experienced throughout Quebec.
Unfortunately, the housing crisis does not end on July 2, but lasts all year long, and has done so for too long.
The housing crisis is no longer tenable for citizens, no longer tenable for municipalities and regions, no longer tenable for Quebec. A crisis must one day end. It must generate an unprecedented mobilization of resources and of all partners.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 75,000 new housing units are needed per year in Quebec to maintain affordability. To achieve this, you have no choice: you have to be results-oriented.
Setting up a project takes time, energy and resources. Between a project on paper and a first tenant, the delays can be several years, and this, in the event that the project is carried out. We know the main reasons: cumbersome, costly, inflexible procedures and a persistent inflationary context. All stakeholders, whether the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec, the municipal sector and community organizations, are an integral part of the equation.
The housing crisis can be resolved. It is a strong collective commitment that Quebec must make.
We have everything to gain by solving this crisis:
- for a person, access to a roof that respects his budget promotes financial and residential stability, as well as a reduction in the level of indebtedness. It can have a positive effect on mental health, while consolidating social integration;
- Within a community, housing that is accessible to all promotes social cohesion, the reduction of homelessness, and can even alleviate another crisis, that of the labor shortage. Resolving the housing crisis has a structuring effect.
We can make Quebec a model in the world. A welcoming Quebec where everyone has the right to a roof that respects their financial capacities, in a living environment that meets their needs.
A model that representatives from other countries will come to visit to learn how we have collectively resolved the housing crisis. We can afford to dream. Above all, we want to believe that the dream will become a reality.
* Co-signatories: Guillaume Tremblay, president of the UMQ housing committee and mayor of Mascouche; Evelyne Beaudin, Mayor of Sherbrooke; France Bélisle, Mayor of Gatineau; Julie Bourdon, Mayor of Granby; Marc-Alexandre Brousseau, Mayor of Thetford Mines; Daniel Côté, Mayor of Gaspé; Joé Deslauriers, Mayor of Saint-Donat; Benoit Dorais, vice-president of the executive committee of the City of Montreal and mayor of the Sud-Ouest borough; Julie Dufour, Mayor of Saguenay; Catherine Fournier, Mayor of Longueuil; Stéphanie Lacoste, Mayor of Drummondville; Mathieu Lapointe, Mayor of Carleton-sur-Mer; Bruno Marchand, Mayor of Quebec; Claude Morin, Mayor of Saint-Georges; Flavia Alexandra Novac, municipal councilor of Laval; Cathy Poirier, Mayor of Percé