A Montrealer who has been waiting for social housing for five years sees her worst nightmare come true. She could soon be evicted from her home before she can even get an affordable home for her family.
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“I wake up at 2 a.m. to look for an apartment. Since November, I can’t find anything, I’m not even able to visit apartments because I have children. I’m afraid of ending up on the street,” says Naima Naimane, who lives in Rosemont-La Petite Patrie.
This 50-year-old mother lives in a 4 1/2 with her disabled husband who has polio and their two children, 10 and 12 years old. They have resided there since immigrating from Morocco in July 2011.
After a first eviction attempt in 2019 for major renovations, Ms. Naimane’s owner sent her a letter last November informing her that she wanted to take over her apartment to accommodate her spouse.
“I suspected that it was coming, so I decided to go and defend my rights and the recovery by going to the Administrative Housing Tribunal”, explains the one who works for the community organization Carrefour Montrose which breaks the isolation. seniors in his borough.
After having her case heard last February, Ms. Naimane is awaiting the Tribunal’s decision.
“It can take between a month and three months, I have no choice but to start looking now if I want to find something in case the recovery is accepted,” she laments, confiding that she is constantly stressed.
On hold
Having a low income and three dependents, Ms Naimane applied in 2018 for social housing. “But there is no room,” she regrets, alarmed to see that the government is slow to stem the housing crisis when the needs are crying out.
Like her, 23,719 applicants are currently waiting for social housing in the greater Montreal area, according to data from the Montreal Municipal Housing Office (OMHM) as of March 1.
In its district alone, Rosemont-La Petite Patrie, they are 1830. It is the third arrondissement where there is the highest demand, behind Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension (3016) and Côte-des-Neiges– Our Lady of Grace (2455).
According to Mathieu Vachon, spokesperson for the OMHM, the average wait in 2021 for social housing was 5.7 years in Montreal (see other text).
“Obviously it depends on the records. Some people will wait less long, others will never have social housing,” he explains.
Less than $1000
In the meantime, Ms. Naimane is therefore looking for an apartment between $800 and $1,000 per month.
“I can’t put in more because it already represents 50% of my income. At that price, there’s nothing so I’m starting to look at 4 1/2s and expanding my search to other neighborhoods,” she says.
A long wait for subsidized housing
The excessively long wait for obtaining social housing and the rare projects pending construction do not even cover the needs, creating distress among the most vulnerable tenants.
“The wait is unbearable, protests Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU). In a context where housing is overpriced, people have no alternative and that puts them in terrible situations of distress that we should not accept!”
In Montreal, it takes an average of 5.7 years to obtain social housing, according to data from the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal as of March 1. If the wait is so long, it is because nearly 24,000 households are on the list.
“People who need social housing now don’t have access to it when they need it and have to wait for years. It puts people in very precarious situations and it pushes some households towards homelessness, ”laments Ms. Laflamme.
Lack of will
For the latter, as for the organizations interviewed by The newspaperthe lack of political will is increasingly felt.
“When the government says lip service that there is a housing crisis, that says a lot about the perception that Quebec has, and above all, that it does not want to develop social housing,” laments Jean-Claude Laporte, from the Rosemont Housing Committee.
Only 5,150 social housing units were built during the last CAQ mandate, recalls Ms. Laflamme.
“Not a lot of housing is freed up and since very few are being built, it sure takes a long time to get a place,” she adds.
Too many registrations
At the Loggia Community Habitations, in Rosemont, it was impossible to meet the demand.
Each year, only 8 to 12 social housing becomes available. Most often because the tenants go to a CHSLD or die, explains the director of the organization Catherine Boucher.
Even the 78 units awaiting government funding to be built will not be enough, says Ms. Boucher.
“The needs are there! We have nearly 150 people on our waiting lists, ”explains the director of the organization Catherine Boucher.