The City of Montreal would like to triple its number of non-market housing by 2050. Non-market housing (social, affordable and community housing) represents 7% of the real estate stock on the island, and Montreal wants to increase it to 20%. It will be quite a challenge.
Published at 7:00 a.m.
Off-market housing, mostly intended for less well-off people, is financed largely by Quebec and Ottawa. And Canada is one of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries where the least amount of construction is being done.
On average, 7.1% of housing in OECD countries is off-market, compared to 3.5% in Canada (Quebec has fewer off-market housing than the Canadian average). These accommodations have many advantages: they escape real estate speculation, rents are controlled and tenants are not evicted.
“Our most vulnerable citizens are more vulnerable than elsewhere. We are in a housing crisis and our 3.5% of non-market housing is no longer suitable,” says Jean-Philippe Meloche, professor of urban planning at the University of Montreal.
In addition to directly benefiting those who live there, non-market housing frees up private sector housing for the middle class. It would therefore be necessary to build many more. Although, on the downside, it won’t solve all the housing affordability problems. The Netherlands (34.1%) has 10 times more non-market housing than Canada (3.5%), but less affluent Dutch and Canadian renters pay the same amount for housing (36% of their disposable income ).
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