It’s Moving Day on Monday for many Quebecers. However, as anticipated by organizations, July 1 is a difficult day for many tenants, as nearly 1,300 households are still being assisted by a housing search service.
According to Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), “the picture is very bleak.”
According to the latest compilation by the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ), there were nearly 1,300 tenant households today [Monday] who were still actively accompanied by a housing search service, either because they were looking for housing for July 1 or for the next few weeks,” she said in an interview.
She pointed out that the housing search period was “extremely difficult” this year. The vacancy rate is below the market equilibrium threshold of 3% across Quebec, Laflamme said.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) annual report published last January, the vacancy rate in the Greater Montreal area stood at 1.5 per cent. In Quebec City, the vacancy rate is 0.9 per cent, while in Gatineau it’s 1.1 per cent.
Although tenants are moving much less than a few years ago, demand for assistance services has been strong. “Help services, according to the SHQ compilation, received 9,200 calls this year, so that’s huge,” Laflamme said.
“Over the past year, relocation assistance services have been set up in several municipalities. It’s new that so many relocation assistance services have been set up; there are over forty in Quebec. A few years ago, it was only in the biggest cities that we saw such assistance services,” she added.
People carry appliances from a truck on moving day in Montreal, Monday, July 1, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
As of Monday morning, 384 households were in temporary housing situations, said Laflamme, noting that some of these requests for help had been made before July 1. FRAPRU will release a report on July 4 on the number of people who had to seek temporary accommodation after Monday evening.
A crisis that goes beyond July 1
While attention is focused on tenants on the widespread move-out date of July 1, the scale of the housing crisis is felt well beyond that single day, said Laflamme.
“What we’re seeing is that it doesn’t start on July 1, and it doesn’t end in the days following July 1. People who were in temporary housing situations are now in temporary housing situations for several days, several weeks,” she explained.
While tenants are moving out less and less, “we’re guessing that there are people who remain in situations of poor housing,” according to the FRAPRU spokesperson.
Families may be staying in housing that’s too small, or tenants may be staying in housing in poor condition due to the lack of housing available on the market or its high price.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 1, 2024.