The Legault government plans to create incentives for people who live in social housing to leave their apartments when their income increases too much.
The Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) confirmed Thursday that it was in the process of developing a regulation to frame the rules for the allocation of modest housing.
The draft regulation provides that a single person living in social housing in Montreal could have to pay financial compensation from the moment their income exceeds $40,650, according to working documents obtained by The duty.
The maximum amounts would vary from region to region. In Quebec, an income would cease to be considered “modest” from $38,750; in Rimouski, the limit would be $31,250 (See table).
People who already live in social housing, however, would not be affected by these measures. According to groups consulted by the SHQ in January, the regulation would only apply to future projects.
“It will be an incentive to leave,” according to the director of the Quebec Confederation of Housing Cooperatives (CQCH), Sandra Turgeon. In his view, this regulation is a very bad idea. “We’re going to end up with real estate complexes with all the same people who won’t have the right to improve their conditions, otherwise they’ll have to leave. It goes against the cooperative community model that we have been developing for 50 years. »
In the past, the co-operative model has often been criticized for allowing wealthy people to keep apartments at low cost. As the president of the SHQ explained in 2013, this posed problems of social acceptability.
Rules governing co-ops and other types of social housing require that at least 50% of tenants be low-income. By living in social housing, these people can have access to a rent supplement (PSL) allowing them to limit the share of their income devoted to housing to 25%.
The other half of the tenants may have a higher, but still modest income. It is this group that is targeted by the proposed regulations. According to the documents consulted by The dutytheir income would be checked each year at the renewal of the lease in order to establish whether or not they should pay “compensation”.
Mme Turgeon says she is aware that rumors are circulating that people are abusing people, that people with good salaries live in co-ops. But according to her, it is “anecdotal”.
According to a survey conducted by his organization, the average household income in co-ops was $31,936 in 2016. Of this group, 37% had incomes below $20,000.
The “new poor”
We risk creating “new poor”, argues Ambroise Henry, spokesperson for the Association of Technical Resource Groups (GRTQ), the organizations that set up social housing projects in Quebec. “What are we going to do with people who are not eligible for affordable housing and who earn $35,000, $40,000 as a household? […] We will deliver them to the private market. »
The SHQ, he says, already has scales to define income ceilings. However, these ceilings were not accompanied by compensation and above all, they were 40 to 50% higher.
In Montreal, this year, there are 800 new households waiting for an HLM, but during this time, the needs of other households are also increasing, those who are not poor enough to be eligible for low-rent housing. due to the rapid increase in rental costs
“We don’t want to reproduce ghettos,” pleads Mr. Henry, who also runs a GRT in Bas-Saint-Laurent. “It’s a question of social integration, solidarity and living together. »
For the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment, the government is reasoning backwards in this matter.
If its objective is to provide social housing to as many disadvantaged people as possible, the SHQ should increase the supply of social housing instead of restricting access to subsidized housing, argues its spokesperson, Véronique Laflamme. “It is certain that if we finance social housing in dribs and drabs, there is a question that arises [sur qui a accès aux logements], she says. In Montreal, this year, there are 800 new households waiting for an HLM, but during this time, the needs of other households are also increasing, those who are not poor enough to be eligible for low-rent housing. due to rapidly rising rental costs. »
Asked about the draft regulation, the SHQ declined to comment. “This draft regulation is currently being developed,” said its spokesperson. “At this time, we will therefore make no further comments. »
The draft regulation comes into play as the government has just launched a new program to rethink the supply of social housing.
According to the most recent statistics, 37,149 low-income people are on the waiting list for a place in an HLM or a regular income supplement in Quebec.