Quebec's housing crisis goes beyond supply and demand, says new report

The housing crisis is not rooted in a supply-and-demand issue as commonly framed by government officials, according to a new report by housing groups.

Despite Quebec having the fewest housing starts in Canada last year, the number of residential units built in the last decade still surpassed growth of households. But empty units are still out of reach for many due to skyrocketing rents.

The average rent price in Montreal went up by 27 per cent between 2020 and 2024, the lowest increase of any city in Quebec, says the report by the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ). Rents went up by 33 per cent in Quebec City, 44 per cent in Sherbrooke, 50 per cent in Trois-Rivières, 49 per cent in Rimouski and 37 per cent in Saguenay.

Inflation, however, went up by 17 per cent in the same period.

There was also an increase in evictions. A 2023 report by RCLALQ found that in 2022, evictions reported to housing committees were at an all-time high. That number went up by 135 per cent in 2023.

A Statistics Canada survey showed that three per cent of Canadians were evicted from their homes last year, and RCLALQ estimates that includes about 45,000 Quebec households based on the survey and the amount of complaints its associations received.

Cédric Dussault, a spokesperson for RCLALQ, says the solution is more social housing, more restrictions on unit repossessions, more rent-control measures and a provincewide rental registry to boost the supply of truly affordable housing.

Quebec recently put a moratorium on evictions and expanded protections for senior tenants, which Dussault called a "good step."

"It's not just a question of building more, we've built a lot of housing in the last 20 years in this province. The problem is what is built does not necessarily answer the needs we see," he said.

There's a dire need to build and maintain social housing — which is non-profit and set at 25 per cent of a tenant's income — and for affordable family-sized units, said Dussault.

"It's completely utopic to think that the rental market will simply balance itself out if we build more," he said.

In Montreal, the waiting list for subsidized housing is over 15,000 names long and it can take years to get a spot.

Landlords in Quebec, however, feel they need to catch up to other provinces as Quebec is still one of the most affordable places to live in the country, said Jean-Olivier Reed, a spokesperson for the Quebec Landlord Association (APQ).

"Tenants think it's too much and landlords think it's too little," he said.