With nine days left until moving day, Catherine Brunette says it has been impossible to find an affordable three-bedroom apartment to rent in Montreal for her and her two children.
“I’m stressed because I don’t want to find myself in the streets,” she said. “I’m doing all I can.”
Québec Solidaire spokesperson, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois says, unfortunately, she’s not alone.
“The prices of houses in Quebec have increased three times faster than the salaries since François Legault is in power, so salaries are not following the prices of the houses,” he said.
On top of that, he and housing advocates say that Bill 31, the government’s newly tabled legislation, would worsen the current housing crisis.
The bill proposes doing away with rental lease transfers — a tool that has helped keep housing affordable — and they are urging the Legault government to revise it.
“We are in a very difficult situation, we are in a historic crisis and we have a government that is minimizing the problem,” said Nadeau-Dubois.
The government is already in hot water over the housing crisis.
Quebec’s housing minister France-Élaine Duranceau, herself a former real estate agent, met with a former business partner who is now a registered lobbyist.
That has sparked an investigation by the province’s ethics commissioner.
“There will be an investigation and we will collaborate,” said Legault, while defending his housing minister on Wednesday.
He also said that no one will be left in the streets on July 1, adding that his government will make sure to find temporary housing for people, if necessary.
To make their voices on Bill 31 heard, housing rights advocates have organized two protests on Thursday: one in Quebec City and one in Montreal in the Parc-Extension borough.
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