After three days of congress in Sherbrooke, FRAPRU members revealed this request in a press release.
Currently standing at around 10.5%, the share of social housing available on the rental market in Quebec must be increased to “at least 20%”, insists FRAPRU.
This will require “a major increase in investments from the federal and Quebec governments,” writes the organization.
10,000 social housing units per year
Concretely, FRAPRU is asking the provincial government to make 10,000 social housing units available per year over 15 years “in the form of non-profit organizations, housing cooperatives and HLM, both in new construction, in recycling of buildings, and through acquisition of existing rental buildings.
While waiting lists for social housing in Sherbrooke continue to grow, as recently reported The galleryFRAPRU believes that increasing the number of these homes constitutes an inseparable necessity for resolving the housing crisis.
“Not only is this objective entirely achievable, but it is a necessary condition for ending the crisis! It is the safety, health and ability to meet the other basic needs of a growing number of renting households that are currently under attack. FRAPRU member groups witness this every day: their distress is more and more extreme,” argues FRAPRU spokesperson Véronique Laflamme.
“We will not get out of the crisis if we do not take measures to curb growing unaffordability at the same time as we increase the supply of housing,” she adds.
Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for FRAPRU. (Dominick Gravel/Archives La Presse)
To achieve this end, FRAPRU advises the government in particular to review the Quebec Affordable Housing Program (PHAQ), an unloved community, but also to create another program allowing the acquisition of private housing by entities public or non-profit for the creation of social housing.
The organization would also like Quebec to set aside certain excess real estate owned by the government to install social housing.
FRAPRU will hold a press briefing at 1 p.m. to detail its demands.
