Protesters across Quebec demand better rent control policies

Demonstrations took place across Quebec on Saturday to protest against Bill 31, which among other things, proposesremovingthe right of tenants to transfer their lease.

Organized by the housing group coalition Regroupement des comits logement et associations de locataires du Qubec (RCLALQ), the rallies happenedsimultaneously in Montreal, Quebec City, Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda and Sherbrooke.

For RCLALQ spokesperson Cdric Dussault, the abandonment of the right to transfer leases, provided for in Article 7 of the bill, is "really the last straw."

"Bill 31 would represent a major step backwards for tenants," he said. "It is odious because it would deprive tenants of the right to assign their leases and does not address the root causes [of the housing crisis]."

Lia MacKinnon said she moved to Montreal from Vancouver because it got too expensive to live in the city.

"The only reason I can afford my rent right now is because I got a lease transfer. Same thing for my last apartment, same thing for the apartment before. It's the only reason I can afford rent in the city," she said.

On Thursday, Premier Franois Legault hinted that his government might back down on the measure. When asked about the bill, the leader of the Coalition Avenir Qubec said that he would not rule anything out and that it was necessary to "look at the pros and cons."

The parliamentary committee studying the bill began in Quebec City on Thursday.

Push for rent price regulation

ForRobie Robie Schuler, the housing crisis is taking a toll. She said she feels "trapped" in her apartment because she's been living there long enough for her rent to be below market ratebut says her landlord doesn't make necessary repairs, with the hope ofshe andher family movingout so he can hike up the rent.

"We need to guarantee the right to housing to everyone in our society," she said.

Louisa Woreell, who recently arrived in Quebec, said she and her daughter are stuck in sub-par housing and it's "almost impossible" to find anything better.

The protesters also call on the government to take concrete measures to curb the housing crisis, in light of the news earlier this week that there are now more than 10,000 homeless people in the province and that homelessness in Quebec has risen by 44 per cent in five years.

"Homelessness is not limited to housing, but it is closely linked to it,"said Nicole Dionne, co-ordinator of the Bureau d'Animation et Information Logementdu Qubec Mtropolitain,in a news release issued early Saturday afternoon.

About 25 per cent of homelessness is the result of eviction, according to Dionne.

"It's not surprising that homelessness is on the rise just about everywhere in Quebec," she said."It's regrettable that the Premier and the Minister of Housing show so little interest in these issues."

The RCLALQ is also calling for an "immediate freeze" in rent prices.

"We've been asking Minister Duranceau, and many of her predecessors, to introduce real rent control for a very long time now," said Dussault. "This has been our main demand for several decades."

"Until genuine rent control is introduced, with a public register and a cap on rent rises, we will continue to sink deeper into the crisis," he added.

How Quebec's popular lease transfers will change under a new housing bill

1 year ago

Duration 1:39

The CAQ government's new housing bill makes some changes that tenants have been asking for, but it also gives landlords more power over lease transfers.

Cassandre Vassart-Courteau, a community organizer with the Comit Logement Bas-Saint-Laurent, said landlords and tenants are not fighting on equal terms. In her view, the "free negotiation" that Minister Duranceau is banking on to let the rental market regulate itself is flawed.

"Tenants are very often afraid to refuse or negotiate rent increases for fear of reprisals, and rightly so," she said in a news release.

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Organizations providing assistance to tenants say they have noticed an explosionin evictions over the past few years, some of which are carried out under fraudulentpretexts aimed at considerably increasing the price of rent.

"What we are calling for is a ban on evictions when the vacancy rate falls below three per cent," said Dussault. "That's what we're seeing all over Quebec at the moment. Almost every region is affected."