MOVING DAY APPROACHING
City vows to help those in need
Montreal is working hard to support and assist residents who must move this summer and are having trouble finding affordable rental housing, Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters on Wednesday.
“It is very important not to leave anyone behind,” she said.
Finding affordable rental housing in a market in which the vacancy rate is only about 1.5 per cent is challenging at the best of times — and the COVID -19 pandemic has made the experience even more stressful, Plante said.
Eighty per cent of Quebec’s residential leases expire on June 30 and 80,000 to 100,000 Montrealers will be moving on or around July 1.
Anyone worried about finding affordable housing should call 311 and consider it a port of entry, Plante said.
“From there we will take care of you,” she added.
As of Wednesday, 144 households had contacted 311 and 11 households were being actively supported, Plante said. Last year, 150 households were helped and the figure this year could be considerably higher, said Robert Beaudry, an executive committee member in charge of housing,
A steering community made up of city employees, as well as landlord and tenant representatives, has been meeting every two weeks for some time, Plante said. As well, the city has been working with emergency measures coordination authorities to ensure that people who don’t find places to live can be housed temporarily in hotels and is also working with boroughs to find safe storage space for their furnishings.
But Montreal cannot do it alone, Plante said, and the city has asked the Quebec government for $5 million in emergency funding to cover the cost of hotel rooms and rental of storage facilities.
How many hotel rooms will be needed “depends on how the situation unfolds,” Plante said. “My message is that we want to make sure everyone has a roof over their heads.”
She said hotels wishing to offer space can contact the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal or the Red Cross.
Beaudry appealed to landlords with tenants who have decided not to move because of the pandemic to reach agreements “that respect everyone.”
The city is doing all that it can to make things as easy as possible, Plante said, but she implored people to follow public-health guidelines, including social distancing, wearing a face mask if a distance of two metres cannot be maintained, frequent hand washing and not sharing food or drink.
“Not everybody has the financial resources to hire a professional moving company,” Plante said. “When you are moving, you get closer to other people. It’s important to wear a mask and gloves.”