Our homes can be bought, sold and rented at high prices. Number of ” pinball machines » and owners in search of profit have understood this, which does not help in any way to curb the real estate speculation of recent years. What if we instead had to take some of our properties off the market to stop this surge in prices and maintain decent, affordable housing?
In any case, this is the idea at the heart of the new documentary The last flip. Decommoditizing real estate, led by social entrepreneur Samuel Gervais, journalist Diane Bérard and director Mathieu Vachon. The trio tackles the housing crisis head-on while focusing on this already existing solution, but still too little exploited, according to them.
“The problem is that real estate has become a commodity, while having access to decent housing is a human right recognized by the UN. […] It is urgent to think about this and rethink our relationship with property,” explains Samuel Gervais in an interview.
When we decommodify real estate, we take it out of the speculative market. Thus, the value it will take will essentially follow inflation, and its mission will not be to enrich its owner, but to respect the purpose of the property. That is to say, in this case, to ensure the affordability of housing over time.
In Quebec, there are several housing models inspired by this logic of decommodification of real estate, but they are little known to the general public. To remedy this, the authors of the documentary decided to set off on the roads of the province to meet citizens, entrepreneurs, lawyers and even elected officials who have developed or are trying to facilitate this type of project.
They are thus interested in the Milton-Parc housing cooperative, in Montreal, or in the first owners’ cooperative which saw the light of day in Estrie. The documentary also explains the lesser known model of social utility trust (FUS), in which real estate is allocated for a purpose of general interest rather than for the benefit of an owner. This is the case, for example, of the Angus Development Corporation, in the Rosemont district, or the Louvain Est eco-district project currently under development in Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
American model
During their quest, the documentarians did not hesitate to travel overseas, to Vermont, to meet none other than Senator Bernie Sanders. When he was mayor of Burlington in the 1980s, he supported the creation of community land trusts, a model that resembles the FUS and which helped protect thousands of housing units from speculation. To be more precise, 20% to 25% of Burlington’s rental real estate is today considered off-market.
“It is one of the most popular models when we talk about the decommodification of real estate, because it had a considerable impact in Vermont before spreading elsewhere in the United States, but also in Europe and Canada, notes Samuel Gervais. The model is not necessarily better than those we have in Quebec, but it is clearly a complementary solution. »
Quebec late?
Currently, in Quebec, only 5% of homes are off-market, and the rest still belongs to private interests. This explains, among other things, the race for profit which has raged for several years in the real estate sector and which largely contributes to the explosion in prices – and therefore, in turn, to the housing crisis.
However, according to studies which have looked at the decommodification of real estate, at least 20% of the real estate stock should be sheltered from speculation to “calm the market as a whole”, explains Samuel Gervais.
This objective is still far from being achieved, but it is not impossible, according to him. The entrepreneur recalls that in addition to Burlington, several European metropolises have already exceeded the famous 20%, including Vienna, in Austria, which has 62% of non-market housing. “I don’t think Quebec is late. But we must accelerate the pace and develop this type of housing much more. […] No matter how much we build social housing, we will not solve the crisis like that. Decommodification is an essential avenue. »
To change the mentalities
For that, the different levels of government still need to jump on the bandwagon. “I think we have new municipal politicians who are much more progressive and who are very aware of current social issues,” notes Diane Bérard. But above all it will take a massive investment on the part of governments [provincial et fédéral] to achieve this objective,” underlines the journalist.
She also believes that it is essential to bring about a change in mentalities within society itself. “Our houses have been working harder than us for years. We no longer rely on our salary to support us, but on our passive assets. […] We expect our home to be our retirement, we have even made it a dogma which, like everything in capitalism, has drifted,” she says with exasperation.
“As a society, we must think differently about our relationship to property. With our documentary, we want to show that it is possible, that solutions exist, that collectively we can do it,” adds director Mathieu Vachon, full of hope.