Moving day ‘looking bad’ for renters in Quebec as landlords keep raising prices

Moving day will be a nightmare for renters and a dream for landlords.

That’s what a new housing report by the Coalition of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations of Quebec (RCLAQ) has concluded.

“It’s looking bad,” said Cédric Dussault, a spokesperson for RCLAQ.

RCLAQ found that while usually city centres see the biggest rent increases, for the past four years, we are seeing big increases across the province.

Numbers by the RCLAQ show rents in Montreal increasing by 27 per cent, while they have increased by 33 per cent in Quebec City and up to 50 per cent in Trois-Rivières.

“It’s way over the inflation levels,” Dussault remarked.

The province told Global News in a statement that it is working on increasing the number of housing units on the market, adding there are more than 23,000 social and affordable housing units currently being built.

“There’s never been more,” wrote Justine Vézina, a spokesperson for Quebec Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau.

Dussault says building more private housing is not the solution.

“What we must do first is address the skyrocketing rents problem and also the epidemic of evictions that we’re seeing in this province,” Dussault said.

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The report shows that in the last year, forced evictions have gone up 132 per cent.

The passing of Law 65, a three-year moratorium on certain evictions, is a step in the right direction.

But much more needs to be done.

“We cannot answer the skyrocketing rent problem without thinking of rent control, without thinking of rent registry, without thinking of capping rent increases,” Dussault said.

The housing report comes on the heels of Montreal’s auditor general’s grim findings on access to the city’s low-income housing.

“The main issue for many years is the funding,” said Catherine Lussier, a co-ordinator with the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU).

The auditor general found that about 61 per cent of Montreal’s affordable housing units are in bad shape.

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The average wait time to get into one of the units is 5.8 years and more than 23,000 households are still waiting to get in.

“It’s really difficult to find anything affordable right now,” Lussier said.

It’s just another heavy load for renters to carry ahead of moving day.