Families from different regions of Quebec who were about to take to the streets on Friday expressed their dismay as the housing crisis deepened.
• Also read: Fed up, tenants are demonstrating in front of the Housing Minister’s office
• Also read: A ‘turnkey’ rental register to tackle the housing crisis
• Also read: Decent housing and pets: “I search every day, it’s impossible to find anything…”
” Some [parents] Fear of losing custody of their child because they no longer have a home! As an organization we feel pretty helpless and don’t really know how we can help specifically,” said Nancy Desormeaux, Managing Director of Parents Unique Laurentides.
She says more and more concerned families are panicking and calling her organization, which has been helping single parents for 40 years because they can’t find shelter.
The same goes for Myriam Tison, executive director of the women’s shelter L’Ombre-Elle.
“What happens when a woman leaves a perpetrator? The person ends up in a shelter, but after that there is nothing left! “Rents are too expensive and there are no HLMs,” she complains, adding that living space is also becoming increasingly scarce.
Live with a roommate
Stéphanie Nantel, a single mother and employee of the Maison de la famille du Nord in Mont-Tremblant, had no choice but to stay with her ex to avoid living in his car with her four-year-old daughter.
“When we separated from my daughter’s father, we tried to make amends because we couldn’t pay two rents. Now I share a flat with my colleague because we had no other solution,” she tells the Journal.
Like them, several hundred tenants from Montreal, Joliette, Gatineau, Châteauguay, among others, came to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts to demonstrate in front of the office of France-Élaine Duranceau, the Minister responsible for housing.
Clara Loiseau / JdeM
Several hundred tenants came to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts on Friday May 12, 2023 to demonstrate outside the office of France-Élaine Duranceau, Minister for Housing, demanding more consideration for tenants.
Organized by the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU), the demonstration was attended by numerous organizations calling for rapid action, particularly for the construction of social housing.
Several community groups helping families also joined the march on Friday.
An example of a crisis
For Véronique Laflamme, spokeswoman for FRAPRU, Minister Durance only needs to look at the situation in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts if she wants to take stock of the real estate crises affecting Quebec and the Laurentians.
Clara Loiseau / JdeM
Véronique Laflamme, spokeswoman for the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU).
According to the 2021 Canada Census, more than a third of renter households in this census metropolitan area spend more than the norm of 30% of their income on housing, FRAPRU says.
“For households earning less than $30,000 per year, that proportion rises to 73.2%,” adds Ms. Laflamme.
The latter also points out that the average rent in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts has increased significantly in two years, from $701 a month in 2020 to $889 in 2022, an increase of 26.8%.
In the greater Montreal area, the average monthly rent is now $998, or up 12.0% in two years.