“In May 2023, I found a room to rent in a house until the end of August, after that, in September I didn’t really have a home, in October either,” says Roxanne Turgeon, the air desperate.
Fortunately, friends took her in during this period as well as in November. In December, she found a room for a month in Les Éboulements, a neighboring village.
“Since January, I have been in a house rented to two friends who went on a trip for six months. So, a lot of traveling and the unknown,” says Ms. Turgeon, who is still looking for an apartment since her friends will be back next August.
She is sad to see “that there is nothing available” and at the same time points out that “no apartment accepts dogs”, even though she has one. She even believes that the situation in Baie-Saint-Paul “is worse than in Quebec.”
$2300 per month
At the time of writing these lines, the Kijiji and LesPac sites did not contain any classified ads for apartments for rent in the city of Baie-Saint-Paul.
More popular, Facebook’s Marketplace platform displayed only two homes for rent, or three and a half. The first one showed a price of $1500 per month. The second, furnished, indicated a price of $2,200 per month.
The LogementsCharlevoix website displayed two apartments in Baie-Saint-Paul: a furnished four and a half at $2,300 per month, and a dark three and a half at $795 per month.
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Street in Baie-Saint-Paul. (Félix Lajoie/Le Soleil)
“Honestly, I’m not surprised at all. In more touristy regions, often the rare accommodation that will be available will be rented very, very expensive,” says without hesitation Cédric Dussault, of the Regroupement of housing committees and tenant associations of Quebec (RCLALQ).
Nicole Dionne, coordinator at the Housing Animation and Information Office (BAIL), agrees: the number of available housing units compared to demand is so disproportionate that it is now the owners “who have the big end of the stick.” “. It is no longer the tenant who selects the perfect home, but the reverse.
“In addition to raising prices in a big way, there is also a selection of tenant profiles that is being carried out, we are going to get what we want because the owners currently have the market in their hands. “It leads to a lot of discrimination,” as well as one-upmanship, explains Ms. Dionne.
“I think I did my job”
In interview with The sun, the mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul, Michaël Pilote, mentions that his administration “is well aware of the situation”. The exact figure is not known, but the mayor estimates that the vacancy rate of his city’s rental stock is below 1%.
He maintains that his team “went outside the box” by introducing several measures to mitigate the situation.
The mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul, Michaël Pilote, during the floods last spring. According to him, these events have harmed the housing situation in Baie-Saint-Paul. (Simon Carmichael/Archives, The Sun)
“We made quotas by area to restrict Airbnbs and put a bit of an ax into that, so to speak. We also allowed accessory dwelling units, so someone who would like to renovate their garage to make it a home, we allowed that,” underlines Mayor Pilote.
Other projects “are on the drawing board”, notably a future district of tiny houses in the area of the old hospital, he raises.
“We have also submitted an affordable housing project, 44 units, which would be managed by an NPO formed by the City. A subsidy application has been submitted to the Société d’habitation du Québec, we are currently waiting.”
— Michaël Pilote, mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul
Without having a specific request, the mayor of Baie-Saint-Paul believes that the two levels of government should do more to help municipalities like his.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility, that’s for sure. Private developers also have their role to play. As a municipality, I humbly tell you, I think I have done my job,” judges Mr. Pilote.
A flood and Airbnbs
For her part, Nicole Dionne deplores the fact that the provincial government’s social housing programs are gradually being replaced by so-called “affordable” housing projects.
“It’s not affordable, it represents the average cost of the sector. It won’t be among the most expensive, but it will be on the market. We are far from social housing which is determined according to the person’s ability to pay,” she notes.
According to BAIL and RCLALQ, short-term Airbnb-type rentals also put strong pressure on the rental stock in tourist regions like Charlevoix.
“Charlevoix and Gaspésie are the worst regions in terms of the proportion of accommodations found on platforms like Airbnb.”
— Cédric Dussault, Group of housing committees and tenant associations of Quebec (RCLALQ)
In small, more remote villages, the proportion can reach 100%, according to him. RCLALQ figures indicate that 10% of the rental stock in Baie-Saint-Paul is on the Airbnb platform.
For comparison, 1% of the rental stock in La Malbaie, which has a similar population, is found on the short-term rental platform. RCLALQ data was not available for other Charlevoix communities.
Quebec Premier François Legault speaks with Baie-Saint-Paul Mayor Michael Pilote and local MP Kariane Bourassa as they visit one of the flood sites on Wednesday, May 3 2023. (Jacques Boissinot/Archives, The Canadian Press)
“It’s also special since there were floods: we had a significant increase in requests from the people of Baie-Saint-Paul because there are several units that have disappeared,” adds Ms. Dionne from BAIL , an organization that supports tenants in defending their rights.
Good old word of mouth
Lucie Hotte, agent at the New Arrivals Reception Service (SANA) of Charlevoix-Ouest, concedes that the situation “is not always easy”, even “sometimes very complicated” for her organization which helps new Charlevoisians to settle. to integrate, and therefore to find accommodation.
“What has helped us recently is doing business with Hébergements Charlevoix, it is certain that these are tourist rentals, but sometimes for a short period or for temporary accommodation it can help,” notes Ms. Hotte.
In its support, SANA gives two essential pieces of advice to new arrivals: plan ahead and get information from people who are already there.
“When people are there, it’s easier. At their work, in the community, they can talk about it; it’s often easier to find good accommodation through word of mouth,” she says.
“It’s coming more and more from word of mouth. In certain regions, in certain municipalities, there is no other way to find housing, there is no announcement, there is nothing,” concludes Mr. Dussault.
