With Quebec moving day, more than 2,000 homes throughout the province are still looking for homes, 320 more than at the same time last year, According to the Province Housing Corporation.
Defense groups say they are preparing for more emergency calls.
“There have been many more evictions, cases of recovering,” said Lyn O’Donnell, of the Citizen Action Committee of Verdun.
“People are not only dealing with eviction. They are also dealing with the fact that they have received rent increases that, you know, as their average person simply cannot afford.”
In Montreal alone about 270 I have asked for helphe Société d’Hebitation du Quebec (SHQ) says. The defenders warn that the number is misleading.
“That is what is reported, right? So, there is so much lack of invisible housing involved in that. It even includes families with children,” O’Donnell said.
The city says the help is available by calling 311.
“We have enough resources, enough budget to help you find a new home,” said Philippe Sabourin, spokesman for the city of Montreal.
“We can also offer temporary resources or temporary housing. We also have some resources for storage if necessary.”
Help is out there But it is not enough
Help is also available throughH el Shq and sOme People can be eligible for a rental supplement.
But housing defenders say that these resources are far from enough.
“The house is scarce, first of all. And the program is also mainly for low -income households,” O’Donnell said. “And you must have lived on the island of Montreal during the last 12 months and you have to have used all your own resources.”
O’Donnell said all these measures are only temporary. The real solution is to make available a more affordable home.
Housing Defense Group Le Front d’Action Populaire in Réaménage Urbain (Fragru) says that the growing number of homes in search of a house is due to the shortage of affordable homes in the province.
The SHQ says that of the 1,989 households at risk of homeless, 473 are already in temporary accommodations, such as family, friends or at a hotel.
The city of Montreal and the provincial government say they have resources for people who cannot find an affordable place to live, with a housing crisis that makes July 1 a particularly difficult date for some.
The regions with the largest number of cases include Lanaudière (294), Montreal (269) and Montérégie (235).
Véronique LaFlamme, a spokesman for Fragru, said people often wait for a solution until July 1, and then present themselves looking for help shortly after. She said some end up in her cars or camping.
Assistance varies throughout the province
Although relocation assistance is available throughout the province, the measures offered to tenants vary greatly from one region to another, said Laflamme.
Not all municipalities offer the relocation assistance program supported by Quebec such as Montreal, which provides temporary accommodation, moving and storage.
Housing scarcity is being adjusted slightly throughout the province, with the rate of housing vacancies in 1.8 percent in 2024, compared to 1.3 percent in 2023, according to the Canada Housing and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
But this improvement does not translate into greater affordability, said Laflamme.
In Montreal last year, the vacancies rate for units of less than $ 1,150 was less than one percent. This compares with more than five percent for units with a price at least $ 1,675which probably includes many recently built rental apartments, according to CMHC data.
The new data from Statistics Canada, published on Wednesday, also show high prices for available homes. The requested rent for a two bedroom apartment in Montreal was $ 1,930 in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 70.8 percent as of 2019.
In Montreal, the average income increase was 18.7 percent in 2024 for apartments that changed to the tenants, compared to 4.7 percent for homes where a lease contract was renewed, according to the CMHC.
Since 2018, rentals have increased 47 percent for all apartments in the province, according to a FRAPRU compilation based on CMHC data.
To address this inhalation, Fragru urges Quebec to double the number of social housing units in the rental stock within 15 years, which would imply the construction of at least 10,000 new social housing units per year.
The Government has adopted a national housing strategy and established an objective of 56,000 rental units per year, but does not have a goal for social homes, laments Laflamme.
Even for tenants who do not move this year, the situation is far from ideal, since many face steep rental increases, said Laflamme.
The average increase in the income suggested by the Quebec Housing Court was 5.9 percent by 2025.
“This year’s lease renewal period has been extremely difficult,” said Laflamme, citing a large number of people looking for ways to mitigate rent increases.
