Key takeaways:
- In Sherbrooke, Que., 36 people are already turning to the city for support, with July 1 moving day still weeks away.
- July 1 is Quebec’s typical moving day, but his year, the regional government is raising its assistance for low-income Quebecers who can’t find a cheap place to stay.
The Quebec government is committing $77 million to support low-income residents in the lead-up to the region’s traditional July 1 moving day, with a plan that has rental subsidies for 2,200 homes.
But tenants’ rights advocates say the strategy doesn’t go far enough to handle the affordable-housing problem.
“There’s not adequate [housing], and we have to work our way towards coming up with more social housing units,” stated Catherine Lussier, a community organizer with the housing ownership group Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU).
To make issues worse, Cédric Dussault, a representative for a team of housing and citizens’ rights groups, RCLALQ, tenants in many areas, including the Lower St. Lawrence, the Gaspé peninsula, the Magdalen Islands, are being forced out by landlords, in favor of short-term rentals.
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“Many people are being thrown out of rental units because landlords want to rent the team to tourists for the holiday season,” said Dussault.
Quebec’s minister of municipal matters and housing, Andrée Laforest, declared the new government assistance for residents in a news release Thursday.
A sum of $75.8 million will go toward helping low-income residents living in privately-owned housing pay their rent, with subsidies of up to 25 percent of their household earnings.
Quebec is also extending its current housing allowance program called Allocation-logement, with the top economic assistance rising from $80 to $150 in the coming months.
Source – cbc.ca
