The housing crisis is taking hold more than ever in Laval. Available housing is becoming increasingly scarce, and rents are rising rapidly and now approach those of Montreal, to the great dismay of many tenants who have had to find housing for the 1er July in difficult conditions.
“We started looking in February, and it took months before we found anything,” says Andrea Serrano, a young woman who came to settle in the Laval-des-Rapides district with her boyfriend. “I lived in Quebec, then in Montreal, and it was really not like that. […]. I’ve never seen that,” she says, lamenting the scarcity of housing on the market.
Last year, the average vacancy rate for housing in Laval reached 2.2%. However, it drops to around 1% in several sectors, or even 0.3% in the Vimont and Auteuil districts, according to the most recent data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. “It’s been like this for about a year: as soon as I put something up for rent, in one day, I know it can already be rented. Whereas before, it took one or two weeks,” explains Dimitri Nasseh, owner of rental housing buildings in Laval.
Added to this is the rise in rents, which is rapid everywhere on Jesus Island. According to an analysis of advertisements published on Kijiji in recent months by The dutythe average rent for a four and a half in the Laval region — $1,430 — would now be a handful of dollars higher than on the island of Montreal.
“It’s extremely expensive this year,” says Diane Rudacovitch, met on Friday as she moved into a new apartment with her grandchildren. “Moving here costs me $12,000 more per year compared to my old home, which was in Saint-Jérôme. I’m closer to the subway and the waterfront, I pay less for gas, but it’s still very expensive,” she says, still considering herself lucky to have found something that fit. its criteria.
Avoid the street
At the Municipal Housing Office (OMH) in Laval, which helps low-income tenants, the phone did not ring off Friday. “There is housing available, but there is an affordability problem there,” notes the organization’s executive director, Isabelle Pépin. She also points out that although prices are close to those of the metropolis, the affordable housing stock in Laval is “even lower”.
Some 350 households in need have contacted the Laval OMH in recent months to obtain support in their search for housing. Eighteen households are also on the organization’s “yellow list” because their situation is very precarious. Many of them will have to sleep with relatives for a while, obtain a lease extension or even occupy their current accommodation without the right to find a new roof. Among these households, three were at risk Friday of having to be temporarily relocated to the hotel at the expense of the City, for lack of a better alternative.
“For people, emergency accommodation is extremely stressful,” notes Mme Seed.
Even further north
But the housing crisis extends well north of Île Jésus. In Piedmont, a municipality in the Laurentians located not far from Saint-Sauveur, Michel and his wife, who preferred not to mention their last name, have been living since November in a small house for which they pay $600 a month. Given significant mold problems, the retired couple wants to leave. But he struggles to find affordable housing.
“We have to leave,” says Michel worriedly, who is thinking of trying his luck in another municipality in the region.
Ville de Laval has indeed committed to holding a summit on housing and access to housing on August 26. Its mayor, Stéphane Boyer, who is co-organizing the event with his Longueuil counterpart, Catherine Fournier, intends to welcome more than 300 people from across Quebec, including elected officials and community representatives, to address this crisis, which now goes beyond the borders of its municipality.