Quebec is facing new pressure to address the province’s severe housing shortage from an unlikely coalition.
“It used to be a poor people’s problem, now it’s everyone’s problem,” said Adam Mongrain, housing director at the community organization Vivre en Ville. “Everyone will realize sooner or later how much it costs to not solve the housing crisis.”
His group is just one of the signatories of a new open letter demanding the provincial government bring together actors from a multitude of sectors to come up with a new approach to tackle the crisis.
The letter is signed by building owners, construction companies, chambers of commerce, community organizations, and major cities including Montreal and Laval.
“How can we grow socially, economically and as a province and as a country if we cannot afford to live somewhere?” said Isabelle Demers of the Quebec Association of Construction and Housing Professionals, which helped spearhead the initiative.
It’s uncommon to see business interests and community groups standing side-by-side asking for the same thing.
“The depth of the current crisis is going to make for odd bedfellows until it is solved,” said Mongrain.
The groups say 100,000 new housing units are needed short-term, with 600,000 needed by 2030.
Their first request is for Quebec to recognize and assess the magnitude of the problem.
“First of all, what is the state of the nation as far as housing is concerned in the province of Quebec?” wonders Centraide Montreal president Claude Pinard. “What could be an action plan with indicators of of success that could be put together?”
Mongrain underlined how it used to be easier for people to buy their first homes in the suburbs, but that’s no longer the case.
“It used to be that we would consider getting a starter home, not where we wanted it, but where we could. Now starter homes are not available at all, nowhere where anyone would want,” he said.
Groups representing seniors and students are also part of the new team.
“We need to go faster, we need to go further, and we need to go together,” said Laurent Lévesque, president of UTILE, which specializes in social housing for students.
They want the government to assemble people from all walks of life to come up with a strategy, the same way it recently brought together a wide array of voices to plan the future housing development at the old Hippodrome site.
“We want to see private sector, municipalities, institutions, community organizations, people that are more into the social sector come together and talk about this,” Pinard said.
In a statement, Housing Minister France Elaine Duranceau called their plea “a good thing.”
She said the issue needs to be discussed, and things need to keep speeding up.
“The municipalities have their part to do, there are permits that must be issued, we must have a velocity that is a little greater and I think they are aware. I will collaborate with them to help where it is in my field of action,” Duranceau said.
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