Plan to combat Quebec housing crisis comes too late: tenants’ rights group
The Quebec government is adding $21.5 million to its $71.5-million action plan to combat the housing crisis in anticipation of moving day in Quebec on July 1. But a tenants’ rights group says it’s not enough.
The government’s program, announced Thursday by Andrée Laforest, minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, promises $21.5 million in emergency rent support to help up to 1,800 households.
That covers up to 1,600 low-income households that end up without an apartment on moving day. The aid will allow them to pay a rent that is up to 25 per cent of their revenue. The rent ceiling for such a program will be raised as well, which is particularly good news for Montreal, where rents can be especially high.
The plan also promises assistance for 200 homeless people in Montreal, in order to help their reintegration to society. An additional sum of $7.4 million will be dedicated to that effect.
“It’s the first time we’re offering 1,800 emergency PSLS (rental supplements),” Laforest said. “For Montreal, it’s even better news.”
Véronique Laflamme, of tenants’ rights group Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain, welcomes the government’s announcement, but says more help is needed.
“It’s been weeks that we have been asking the Legault government for an emergency plan for July 1,” Laflamme said. “We’re relieved it’s not as late as last year, when it came four days before July 1.
“It’s excellent news that there will be emergency rental supplements to help low-income households find apartments. But the plan is disappointing. We could have avoided so many households ending up in anxious situations in the middle of a pandemic if the government had acted sooner to protect tenants.”
Apartment-hunting season has been dramatically shortened due to the pandemic, according to Laflamme. Combined with the housing crisis that already existed in Montreal and other municipalities, it has made for a particularly stressful situation.
The government banned evictions from March through July 6, but that won’t help everyone, according to Laflamme.
“Many tenants who had not renewed their lease saw their plans change because of the pandemic, but they get no second chance,” she said.
And when evictions restart in July, more people will be in trouble. Laflamme would have liked to see the moratorium on evictions extend beyond July 6.
Laforest points to the interest-free $1,500 loans her government is offering tenants whose revenue has been affected by the pandemic, as well as $50 million dedicated to providing temporary lodging, storage and moving expenses to people whose homes are not ready due to COVID-19.
Municipalities with a vacancy rate below two per cent will continue to receive help from the government, but Laflamme says that leaves out municipalities such as Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Rimouski and Sorel-tracy, where vacancy rates are between two and three per cent — the latter being the acceptable threshold, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The government announced it will give Montreal an extra $1.2 million to face the housing crisis, but that amount is well below the $5 million in emergency funds that Mayor Valérie Plante had requested.
“It’s disappointing,” Laflamme said, noting that the amount was the same as last year. “It doesn’t take into account the reality of the pandemic on the municipalities, which now have added pressure on their public finances.
“The government could have done more to help tenants leading up to July 1, which would have incited cities to do more.”