As Montreal’s housing crisis persists, advocates take aim at no-pet clauses in leases

The Montreal SPCA's director of animal advocacy, says no-pet clauses result in a sad parade of surrendered animals this time of year ahead of Quebec's July 1 moving day.

Tobias Gurl thinks his five-year-old collie, Winston, is a pretty ideal roommate: she’s quiet, well-trained and indispensable to her owner’s well-being.

Gurl, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and is awaiting an autism screening, says Winston is a service dog who has been trained to help him during panic attacks through trained behaviours. Those could be a well-timed nudge, climbing on top of him like a weighted blanket or circling around him to create space when he gets nervous in crowds.

But Gurl, 32, and his roommate CJ James, who also has a service dog, are facing a common problem in Montreal: the inability to find an affordable apartment that accepts animals.

“We have sunk hours and entire afternoons taking public transit around the city to just try and find a place that will take us, and the most likely prospects just turn us down,” Gurl said.

While landlords cannot legally bar service dogs, Gurl and James say they’ve been turned down at least twice by landlords who have clearly stated the dogs as a reason. And, while other landlords have been less overt, they suspect the dogs were the reason they were rejected for at least five other rentals.

He said his hopes have been raised somewhat by the introduction of a bill in the Quebec legislature that would invalidate no-pet clauses. The bill, tabled by the opposition party Quebec solidaire, would also ban such clauses in future leases.

It’s a measure that advocates such as the Montreal SPCA have long called for. Sophie Gaillard, the organization’s director of animal advocacy, says no-pet clauses result in a sad parade of surrendered animals this time of year ahead of Quebec’s July 1 moving day, when new leases traditionally begin.

“Every day at the SPCA we’re witness to heartbreaking scenes in which people who really love their animals, are responsible, take great care of them, want to keep them, but are forced to surrender them because they just can’t find housing,” Gaillard said in a phone interview.