Quebec moving day struggles highlight need for social housing, advocates say

CTV News

4 days ago

A woman enters a building next to a sign advertising an apartment for rent on moving day in Montreal, Monday, July 1, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
About 2,000 people in Quebec still needed help finding housing on moving day, and advocates say affordable units are scarce.
By July 2, that number was down to 1,902. The Société d'habitation du Québec said that of those, 406 are in temporary rehousing, 167 are in hotels and 239 are staying with relatives.
'It should also be noted that these households receiving more intensive support are not necessarily homeless, and even less so living on the streets,' the SHQ said in an email statement. 'All households requesting assistance are supported until a lasting solution to their situation is found. It is not too late to request assistance, as [housing assistance services] operate year-round.'
The SHQ received 8,945 requests for housing assistance by July 1 in 2025, 51 per cent of the 17,374 total requests in 2024.
Housing advocacy group the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) says a lack of affordability is driving the housing crisis.
According to Statistics Canada, asking rent in Montreal has risen by nearly 71 per cent since 2019.
'The median income for all tenants in Quebec was $48,400 at the time of the 2021 census. Nearly 373,000 tenant households in Quebec were already paying more than the standard 30 per cent of their income for housing,' said FRAPRU in a news release. 'It is the ability to pay of these households, which are increasingly being excluded from the private market, that should guide housing policies.'
Many tenants who renewed their leases accepted rent hikes they can barely afford, said FRAPRU, as the average increase this year is at an all-time high of 5.9 per cent.
'The extent of the resulting poor housing conditions is still underestimated: domestic violence endured, life plans abandoned, etc. A tight budget jeopardizes the right to health and dignity,' said FRAPRU.
CAQ policies criticized
The advocacy group stresses that the solution lies in building more social housing, outside the speculative market.
'We can flood the market with new housing, but if it's not truly affordable right away, we won't solve anything,' said FRAPRU spokesperson Véronique Laflamme.
She believes governments must set specific targets for the construction of social housing to double the number of units within 15 years.
In 2024, the CHMC released a report showing that though Montreal's vacancy rate rose slightly, rents still increased and remained unaffordable for available units.
'As long as social housing does not represent a much larger share of the rental market, the crisis will continue. This is not inevitable: it is a political choice,' said Laflamme.
FRAPRU deplores policy changes made under the Coalition Avenir Quebec government, including ending its social housing program in favour of an 'affordable' program (PHAQ) available to private developers. Recent changes to the program allow rents of up to 150 per cent of the median market rent for units built using public funds.
The CAQ also passed legislation limiting lease transfers, which were used by tenants as a tool to maintain affordability, and advocates have criticized the Housing Minister's new formula to calculate rent hikes, saying it will allow even higher increases.
FRAPRU highlighted that it's taking households receiving housing assistance are waiting longer to find a place, and the numbers around July 1 are just the tip of the iceberg as issues persist year-round.
'This illustrates the depth of the crisis: the scarcity of available housing combined with high prices is preventing thousands of tenants from finding permanent accommodation within an acceptable timeframe and under acceptable conditions,' said FRAPRU.