Quebec ramping up support for households, months ahead of moving day
Housing minister says this year might be 'more complicated' for households
With the July 1 moving day mere months away, the Quebec government has announced an additional $7.8 million to help housing offices and municipalities support households in need.
At a news conference Tuesday, France-Élaine Duranceau, Quebec's minister responsible for housing, says with a low vacancy rate across the province, this year might be "worse or more complicated."
"Our goal is clear: For everyone who reaches out to have a roof over their heads," said Duranceau.
"We're there to help."
She says more than 5,000 households have already asked for help since January.
The additional $7.8 million will help meet the urgent needs of households who don't have a place to stay by setting up services d'aide à la recherche de logement (SARL), housing search assistance centres.
Around 40 SARLs are already in operation across Quebec.
This year, not only will additional funds help reimburse certain costs relating to temporary accommodation but it will enable SARLs to benefit from experts specializing in psychological support, says Duranceau.
'It's not going where the needs are,' says advocate
Cédric Dussault, spokesperson for the Coalition of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations of Quebec, also known as RCLALQ, called this measure "a little bit absurd."
"A lot of those people, they don't want psychological help. They just want a roof over their head," said Dussault.
"It's really insulting for tenants also to be reduced to that. As if the problem was psychological, where the distress is real, it is material and it should be addressed this way."
While the province is investing resources in supporting people trying to find a place to live, it's not addressing the root problem of the housing shortage, says Dussault.
"It's basically a recycling of last year's announcement and the year before," said Dussault.
He says the government needs to put forward long-term solutions that address the rent increases as well as what he calls an "epidemic of evictions."
"The rents have been exploding last year, we're talking about throughout the province rent raising on average of 14 per cent. So this year … probably it's going to be even higher," said Dussault.
He says the problem gets more dire every year.
"When the Minister of Housing is saying that the objective is that nobody is gonna be in the streets on July 1, well they failed last year, they failed the year before, and it's going to fail again this year," said Dussault.
He suspects there could even be more people on the streets than the year before.
"We are pretty worried for this year too. We've seen tenants already calling earlier," said Catherine Lussier, co-ordinator at Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), an organization advocating for the right to housing.
She agrees that the government should address root problems, including why tenants lose their apartments in the first place — suggesting a rent control measure as an example.
"We are really worried that this situation is going to get worse," said Lussier.
She said today's announcement is a start.
'We're expecting a tough July 1'
Minister Duranceau also announced flexibility in Quebec's housing supplement program, Programme de supplément au loyer Québec (PSLQ).
PSLQ enables low-income households who apply through their housing office to live in private housing while paying rent similar to that of a low-rent home, or rent that is 25 per cent of their income.
This program will be made more flexible to enable housing offices to accelerate the allocation of subsidized housing to households on the wait-list.
"We welcome this morning's announcement," said Dany Caron, the general manager of Quebec City's housing office.
"We're expecting a tough July 1."
He says his organization is preparing for the difficult year and that it's crucial people get started early in looking for new accommodation.
Duranceau also highlighted the importance of people reaching out for support.
The Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ) customer relations centre has extended their opening hours to better serve residents looking for housing and will be open seven days a week from June 15 to July 14, with the exception of June 24.
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With files from Émilie Warren