Housing advocates in Quebec say they are alarmed at the number of people still without homes since the province’s traditional moving day more than two months ago.
“It is worse than it has ever been,” said Margaret van Nooten of the tenants’ rights group Project Genesis. “It is worse than I would have ever imagined that it could be in a society like ours where there still is wealth.”
Others working with people looking for housing echo those concerns, noting the numbers were higher at the start of September than they were at the beginning of July.
“We’re still having 1,671 tenants that are supported by services but are still looking for a place to stay or maybe have no place to stay,” said Catherine Lussier, coordinator at housing rights advocacy organization Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU).
According to FRAPRU records, provincially there were just over 334 households listed in temporary accommodations on July 3. On Sept. 2, there were 427.
“We know that some of them are still camping,” Lussier told Global News, “so it’s a high number of tenants.”
Global News sought statistics from officials in Montreal but did not hear back by the time of publishing.
According to van Nooten, the shortage of housing for tenants is also a major issue here as well.
“I am seeing people who never would have dreamed that they would be homeless,” she said. “Working people, people with cars, parents, a lot of older people are becoming homeless.”
The provincial government has announced plans for more affordable housing which includes a move to fast-track the building of more than 1,000 social and affordable units. Quebec also wants to build 560-thousand housing units by 2034.
Housing advocates stress, however, that there isn’t enough social housing being built.
“Social housing, where rent is geared to income – that is affordable to low-income people,” van Nooten explained, “(where) the amount of rent you pay is actually something you can pay with your $800 welfare cheque, or your $1,600 pension cheque.”
Critics are trying to convince the provincial government that unless they take that reality more into account, the problem will continue to worsen.