This text is part of the special Real Estate section
“Having affordable and quality housing is essential for health, access to employment and well-being”, recalled the OECD in 2021 in the face of the housing crisis, the consequences of which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. On theÎIn Montreal, the affordability threshold is crossed by 1 in 4 residents, according to the first data collected by Centraide and the Foundation of Greater Montreal (FGM) as part of a report on vital signs devoted to housing, which will be published in November.
In its monitoring of housing affordability in the second quarter of 2022, the National Bank of Canada reports a seventh consecutive quarterly deterioration in Greater Montreal, reaching the worst level since 1990. The extent of the problem is seen on the field by community organizations. “It affects other issues, such as food insecurity, mental health, debt, distress and even violence, which affect families. The middle class is also beginning to be affected,” observes Mario Régis, senior director at Centraide of Greater Montreal.
The question of housing is “an amplifier of social inequalities, at the heart of the whole issue of poverty”, underlines for his part Karel Mayrand, president and CEO of the FGM. When the proportion of income spent on housing increases, people go to food banks earlier and earlier and the risk of young people dropping out of school increases. Yet, Mr. Mayrand deplores the “fundamental imbalance, which worsens year after year” between the budget allocated by the government to social and affordable housing ($2.5 billion by 2032 in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan) and that reserved for other priorities, such as the road network (30 billion).
Centraide and the FGM have entered into a partnership to bring this issue back to the heart of the debate and concerns. In collaboration with the Institut du Québec, the two organizations are preparing the next edition of the Vital Signs of Greater Montreal report, devoted to housing and related issues, which will be made public on November 22.
A precise inventory
The report will seek to understand the causes of the affordable housing shortage. “We want to take a particular look at the most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations,” says Mario Régis. We often look at the averages, but the reality in Montreal is not the same in the neighborhoods of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Pierrefonds or Côte-des-Neiges, for example. “Different sections of the population will be examined more closely, with a differentiated analysis according to sex, in particular.
The Institut du Québec is still working on the report, but according to the first data collected, 1 out of 4 Montreal households (living on the Island of Montreal) must spend more than 30% of their income on housing, thus overcoming the affordability threshold.
“This is the highest proportion in Greater Montreal (including Laval and the suburbs of the North Shore and the South Shore)”, indicates Karel Mayrand. According to another preliminary data from the report, two-bedroom housing (the famous “four and a half”) is the type of unoccupied housing whose rents have increased the most, an increase of nearly 40% between 2016 and 2021.
A great “conversation” in the spring
The data contained in the report will allow Centraide to feed a “big conversation” which it will organize in the spring of 2023. “We cannot decently remain in observer mode of what is happening. Centraide has a role to play by connecting people who have different levers,” believes Mario Régis.
The idea of this great conversation was inspired by the action group on school perseverance, launched in the late 2000s by Jacques Ménard (at the time president of BMO Financial Group) to fight against school dropout. “He had succeeded in bringing people from community, business, political and institutional circles around the table who had agreed on a target of 80% graduation rate and each had worked in his field of expertise for the ‘achieve,’ reminds Mario Régis.
The Director hopes that the “Vital Signs of Greater Montreal” report will provide a solid basis for involving people in order to act at the source of housing-related issues. “If we manage to take the pressure off that side, the impact will be major,” he encourages.
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