Higher rents, housing shortages, increased requests for assistance: July 1st is set to be difficult for Quebec tenants

Organizations helping tenants in the Quebec region warn that the rental market is particularly difficult again this year, with requests for help finding housing having doubled in one year.

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The Office municipal d’habitation de Québec (OMHQ) confirms that as of June 20, 159 aid files are open, including 34 for priority support by June 1^is July.

Their housing search assistance service is particularly “busy”, to the point where an employee has been added to their team.

“As the main motive [pour faire appel à leur service]we see that people start looking for housing and realize that it is more difficult than expected,” explains Marie-Christine Lamontagne, senior advisor for organizational development and communications for the OMHQ.

Tenants are particularly surprised by the increase in rents, notes the Bureau d’animation et d’information logement du Québec métropolitain (BAIL).

For a two-bedroom apartment, you have to pay on average between $1,300 and $1,500 per month, says the organization’s coordinator, Nicole Dionne. The cost for a similar rent was $1200 last year.

According to her, a tiny proportion of landlords use Section G of a lease to notify new tenants of the amount previously paid as rent. This declaration has been mandatory since July 2021.

“It is the entire population who sees themselves restricted in access to housing,” laments M^me Dionne, because the difficulties in finding affordable housing are no longer limited only to vulnerable populations. “They are not excessively deprived tenants.”

The housing vacancy rate is 0.9% for the city of Quebec. In its Housing Vision 2020-2030the city administration predicts that 18,000 more homes and condominiums will be needed by 2036.

Everyone is looking

The OMHQ has seen an increase in requests in recent years from single-parent households and women, but people aged 55 and over remain the majority of requests for assistance.

All neighbourhoods in Quebec are affected by the lack of housing, but it is particularly rare in the areas of Sainte-Foy, Saint-Roch, Val-Bélair and Limoilou.

In this context, Nicole Dionne is categorical in her prognosis, namely that people will find themselves on the street the day after the moving period.

“Every year, there are people who sleep either in their car, […] others who will be staying with friends. I call this hidden homelessness,” she illustrates. “There are some who will spend the summer in campsites and whose problem will resurface in September or October.”

Marie-Christine Lamontagne, however, wants to be reassuring.

“We are still finding solutions for people despite the increase in requests for help,” she confirms. “Close” monitoring is ensured by the OMHQ team in the days following the 1^is July for people who still haven’t found anything.

M^me Lamontagne invites people concerned about finding housing to contact his support team, which is open “to everyone.”