As the Legault government fails to make up for the shortage of affordable housing in the short term, money will flow into the pockets of those hardest hit by rising rents.
Quebec is facing a major housing crisis due to low vacancy rates and ever increasing rental costs.
Mr Girard acknowledges in his budget that one of “the preferred solutions” to addressing this housing shortage is simply to create social and affordable housing.
It also envisages the construction of 5,250 housing units over the next 5 years. However, that number includes only 1,500 new units, to which funds are being added to support the creation of 450 units funded through a federal government program.
During the election campaign, the CAQ promised to provide 11,700 new affordable apartments. When asked about this, Minister Girard said that the other units would be in future budgets.
catch up
Otherwise, the government is in catching-up mode. This year it will invest $191.5 million to build 3,300 homes already planned under the AccèsLogis program, whose launch has been delayed by rising interest rates and labor shortages.
Despite this additional investment, approximately 3,300 more apartments are still announced as part of this program but are not yet completed. To date, $1.1 billion has been invested in AccèsLogis.
And while the low-cost housing (HLM) stock is aging to the point where some units are unlivable, Quebec is being forced to invest $105 million this year alone to renovate them. According to the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI), 37% of social and affordable housing is in “poor” or “very poor” condition.
mitigate
But building a new home is not something that can be done in the blink of an eye, and some households do not have the luxury of being able to wait. The Girard budget therefore includes measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the real estate crisis until it is resolved.
The government is therefore improving the housing component of the solidarity surcharge for this year. A single person earning less than $58,527 annually can earn a maximum of $677, or $78 more than the year before.
A couple with two children whose income is less than $68,610 can get $126 more than 2022.
Finally, Quebec plans to invest $53.2 million over five years to add 2,000 units to the rental supplement program, which allows households in a financially precarious situation to live in an apartment on the rental market by paying a rent that a quarter of his income.
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The death of public housing in Quebec, according to QS
“This budget confirms the death of social housing in Quebec,” Solidarity MP Haroun Bouazzi said at a news conference.
Mr Bouazzi expressed outrage that the government had extended a commitment originally made by the Quebec Liberal Party to three terms.
The supporting MP also considers the “HLM renovation budget” to be “completely unrealistic and underestimated” and notes in passing that the people who live there “have to wait the week of four Thursdays until their building is renovated”.
$1 billion for housing
- $303.6 million to build 1,500 affordable housing units
- $45 million to support the creation of 450 units funded by a federal program
- US$191.5 million to accelerate construction of 3,300 AccèsLogis residential units
- $105 million for low-income home renovations
- $291.7 million to improve the housing component of the Solidarity Tax Credit
- $59 million for rent payment assistance programs
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