Nearly 200 affordable housing units left abandoned in eastern Montreal
Buildings on four streets in the Pointe-aux-Trembles neighbourhood have affordable units but are currently vacant, according to some tenants.
'What's happening isn't normal because there are people looking for housing, people staying in 3 ½ apartments, and here it's affordable and heated,' one of the tenants told Noovo.
They say the empty units have had door handles changed and the locks removed.
Noovo reporters were able to corroborate that out of 650 apartments in the area, almost 200 are vacant -- including two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.
Receptionists at the buildings in question refused to give more information on the empty apartments. When contacted by a potential renter, management has said there were no units available.
One man said his son was recently evicted and has been homeless since. He tried to find him an apartment in vain. He has lived in a three-bedroom for years and was seeking a two-bedroom but found rent prices to be exorbitant.
Housing lawyer Manuel Johnson said landlords have an incentive to leave their units empty for over a year.
'After 12 months, there is no competition for rent on vacant properties and the landlord could increase rents at will,' he said.
This legal loophole, he said, is making the housing crisis worse as it keeps affordable housing off the market and allows for large hikes.
A spokesperson for Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau said, 'it's vital to increase the supply of housing, so we want every unit that can be rented to be available,' and noted the units in question are private and not subsidized by the government.
'We have taken a number of measures to restore the balance between tenants and landlords, so that they are well aware of their rights and better equipped,' she said. 'For example, we amended the Civil Code to require the landlord to indicate in clause G of the lease the last rent paid and the date of payment, if no rent has been paid in the 12 months preceding the start of the lease, and to allow for the imposition of punitive damages when the landlord has knowingly omitted or misrepresented the notice.'
The representative of the company that manages the buildings in question declined an interview with Noovo Info, but said the units are being left vacant as there are potentially renovation projects in the works.
With files from Noovo Info's Véronique Dubé and Laurie Gervais
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