Nearly 2,000 households in need of new home as Quebec's moving day nears

Isaac Olson · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 28, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

With Quebec's moving time accelerated approaching, much than 2,000 households crossed the state are inactive searching for lodging — 320 much than astatine the aforesaid clip past year, according to the province's lodging corporation. 

Advocacy groups accidental they are bracing for much exigency calls.

"There's been a batch much evictions, cases of repossessions," said Lyn O'Donnell, with the Citizen Action Committee of Verdun.

"People are not lone dealing with eviction. They're besides dealing with the information that they've received rent increases that, you know, similar your mean person just can't afford."

In Montreal alone, immoderate 270 have asked for help, the Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ) says. Advocates pass the fig is misleading.

"That's conscionable what's reported, right? So there's truthful overmuch invisible homelessness progressive successful that. That adjacent includes families with children," O'Donnell said.

The metropolis says assistance is disposable by calling 311.

"We person capable resources, capable fund to assistance you find a caller dwelling," said Philippe Sabourin, City of Montreal spokesperson.

"We tin besides connection impermanent resources oregon a impermanent dwelling. We besides person immoderate resources for the retention if it's required."

Help is retired there — but not enough

Help is besides disposable done the SHQ and immoderate radical whitethorn beryllium eligible for a rent supplement.

But lodging advocates accidental these resources are acold from enough.

"Housing is scarce, archetypal of all. And besides the programme is mostly for low-income households," O'Donnell said. "And you person to person lived connected the land of Montreal for the past 12 months and you person to person utilized up each of your ain resources."

O'Donnell said each of these measures are lone temporary. The existent solution is making much affordable lodging available.

Housing advocacy radical Le Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) says the expanding fig of households successful hunt of a location is owed to the scarcity of affordable lodging successful the province.

The SHQ says that of the 1,989 households astatine hazard of homelessness, 473 are already successful impermanent accommodations, specified arsenic with family, friends oregon successful a hotel.

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The regions with the highest fig of cases see Lanaudière (294), Montreal (269) and Montérégie (235).

Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for FRAPRU, said radical are often hoping for a solution up until July 1, and past travel guardant looking for assistance soon after. She said immoderate extremity up successful their cars oregon camping.

Assistance varies crossed province

Although rehousing assistance is disposable passim the province, the measures offered to tenants alteration greatly from 1 portion to another, said Laflamme.

Not each municipalities connection the Quebec-backed rehousing assistance programme similar the 1 successful Montreal, which provides impermanent accommodations, moving and storage.

The lodging shortage is easing somewhat crossed the province, with the lodging vacancy complaint astatine 1.8 per cent successful 2024, up from 1.3 per cent successful 2023, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

But this betterment does not construe into greater affordability, Laflamme said.

In Montreal past year, the vacancy complaint for units nether $1,150 was little than 1 per cent. This compares to much than 5 per cent for units priced astatine a minimum of $1,675, which apt includes galore precocious built rental apartments, according to CMHC data.

New information from Statistics Canada, released Wednesday, besides shows soaring prices for disposable housing. The asking rent for a two-bedroom flat successful Montreal was $1,930 successful the archetypal 4th of 2025 — a 70.8 per cent summation from 2019.

In Montreal, the mean rent summation was 18.7 per cent successful 2024 for apartments that changed tenants, compared to 4.7 per cent for dwellings wherever a lease was renewed, according to the CMHC.

Since 2018, rents person jumped 47 per cent for each apartments successful the province, according to a compilation by FRAPRU based connected information from the CMHC.

To code this unaffordability, FRAPRU urges Quebec to treble the fig of societal lodging units successful the rental banal wrong 15 years, which would impact the operation of astatine slightest 10,000 caller societal lodging units per year.

The authorities has adopted a nationalist lodging strategy and acceptable a people of 56,000 rental units per twelvemonth — but nary people for societal housing, laments Laflamme.

Even for tenants who are not moving this year, the concern is acold from ideal, arsenic galore are facing steep rent increases, said Laflamme.

The mean rent summation suggested by Quebec's lodging tribunal was 5.9 per cent for 2025.

"This year's lease renewal play has been highly difficult," said Laflamme, citing a ample fig of callers looking for ways to mitigate rent increases.