Quebec's housing crisis is worsening, data confirms
Housing in Quebec is becoming increasingly expensive and increasingly difficult to find.
Data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) shows the housing crisis is worsening, both in terms of rental costs and availability.
Although landlord and tenant groups interpret the federal agency's data differently, both agree: it's no longer possible to ignore the situation or rely on the market to correct it.
The Association des professionnels de la construction et de l'habitation du Québec (APCHQ) predicts a 32 per cent decrease in the number of rental housing starts in 2023 compared to 2022. In 2022, the decrease was 14 per cent from the previous year.
SERIOUS HOUSING SHORTAGE
The APCHQ estimates a shortage of 100,000 housing units in Quebec, and vacancy rates published by the CMHC support this.
A vacancy rate of approximately 3 per cent is generally accepted as representing the balance between supply and demand.
However, this rate, which was 2.5 per cent across Quebec in 2021, dropped to just 1.7 per cent last year.
In several regions, it's below 1 per cent and even reaches 0 per cent in certain cities such as Gaspé and Roberval, where no housing is available.
In fact, the vacancy rate has fallen below the equilibrium threshold everywhere. In Montreal, it was at 2 per cent, in Quebec City at 1.5 per cent, and it was below 1 per cent in the metropolitan areas of Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Saguenay and Trois-Rivières.
HARMFUL INTEREST RATES
Meanwhile, rental costs have increased everywhere due to too much demand and insufficient supply.
This situation is aggravated by several factors, starting with soaring interest rates. High rates prevent many young households from acquiring property, forcing them to stay on the rental market.
On the other side of the equation, interest rates are slowing down developers, who are forced to charge unaffordable rents to recover their investment financing costs.
In addition, builders are faced with rising construction costs due to inflation, again pushing rents out of line with market prices.
Add to that the catch-up of newcomers, who largely rent upon entering the country, and you have ever-increasing pressure on the market.
As for the calculation of rental cost increases, this is a matter of dispute.
The Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec (CORPIQ) maintains rents have remained below inflation, which was 6.7 per cent in Quebec in 2022. However, the CMHC's calculations rely on data limited to two-bedroom units and exclude new units.
The group's spokesperson admitted that, even when following the CMHC's method, some rental increases have exceeded inflation in Gatineau, reaching 9.1 per cent.
DISPROPORTIONATE INCREASES
For its part, the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) has calculated increases from data including all types of apartments, including new units, which usually go for a higher price.
The RCLALQ's calculation is hair-raising for moderate-income households that don't receive government assistance.
The organization thus reports average increases of more than 20 per cent in Rawdon (Lanaudière), Cowansville (Eastern Townships), and Gatineau, and more than 18 per cent in Chambly, Brossard and Boucherville (Montérégie), as well as in Verdun and Anjou-Saint-Léonard on the island of Montreal.
Average increases between 10 and 18 per cent, according to the RCLALCQ's calculation, were reported in several Montreal neighbourhoods, but also in the suburbs of the metropolis and in the cities of Longueuil, Shawinigan, Sherbrooke, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Sainte-Agathe, Granby and Baie-Comeau.
In fact, according to the tenants' rights organization, "no place in Quebec is spared from major increases."
REQUESTS FOR GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
What can be done? Unsurprisingly, the solutions are diametrically opposed depending on which side of the apartment door you live on.
The RCLALQ is calling for an immediate freeze on rents, followed by a rental cap and the creation of a rent registry. Secondly, it's calling for the accelerated construction of social and affordable housing.
CORPIQ, on the other hand, has always been strongly opposed to rent control. The organization of some 30,000 landlords maintains that this approach would place the rental housing sector "in permanent crisis."
Instead, it wants massive and rapid assistance for the construction of new housing, as well as an overhaul of the regulatory and fiscal framework "that favours the renovation of the current stock, and the massive addition of new housing."
However, the two groups are united in their call to Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau to act quickly and with authority to correct a situation that has become untenable for everyone.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 26, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
This Toronto restaurant is no longer accepting tips. Here's how it's going
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff – tipping is no longer accepted.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
What new auto insurance reforms will mean for Ontarians, if they get introduced
Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices.