Strong Opposition to Proposed Quebec Housing Law

Marches Assert Loud and Clear that
Housing Is a Right

On the eve of the opening of the fall session of the Quebec National Assembly, a Summit on Homelessness was held September 15 in Quebec City. The following day, at the call of the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) rallies were held simultaneously in Montreal, Quebec City, Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda and Sherbrooke. Participants demanded that Bill 31, An Act to amend various legislative provisions with respect to housing, tabled on June 9 by Minister responsible for Housing France-Élaine Duranceau, be discarded.

In Montreal, close to a thousand people gathered in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district on September 16. Among other things, they demanded that Section 7 of the bill, which provides landlords with the right to refuse to allow lessees to transfer their lease to someone else, be scrapped.

Present at the rally were members of various collectives fighting for the right to housing. They proudly carried banners identifying themselves with their Montreal neighbourhoods and surrounding areas: Ahuntsic-Cartierville, La Petite-Patrie, Plateau Mont-Royal, Parc-Extension, Pointe-St-Charles, Rosemont, Verdun, Ville-Marie, and others. Representatives of organizations working in defence of the most vulnerable, including welfare recipients, were there with their banners. The message repeated on most of the banners and placards was that housing is a right, not a privilege.

People from organizations defending tenants and the most vulnerable, among them the homeless and pensioners, addressed the crowd. One of them was Cédric Dussault, spokesperson for the Coalition of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations of Quebec’s (RCLALQ), who noted that, in addition to demanding the elimination of Section 7 of Bill 31 and the need to set up a national rent register, the issue of evictions must also be dealt with. He said that during the Summit on Homelessness the previous day, it was revealed that housing evictions are the main cause of homelessness, accounting for 25 per cent of those who find themselves without a home. He pointed out that when it comes to evictions, landlords are able to circumvent the right to maintain tenancy and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and discriminate with regard to access to housing.

To illustrate his point, he named a real estate speculator who spends his time buying up buildings in the Hochelaga-Maisoneuve district. This speculator then evicts tenants, renovates the units and rents them out at exorbitant rates, all the while declaring that everything he does is perfectly legal.

A spokeswoman for the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) denounced the CAQ government's claim that Bill 31 is there to restore "the balance between landlords and tenants." She said the bill does anything but this and will maintain the current real estate and rental market that targets the most vulnerable people in society, be they low- or modest-income tenants, including women who are victims of domestic violence. She added that the bill will also weaken access to social housing, and open the possibility that low-income housing units could be sold to private interests to be turned into so-called "affordable housing." This is an unacceptable situation, she said. She informed that 40,000 low-income households in Quebec are waiting for low-cost housing, some for as long as five years, to the point where they find themselves on the street.

Through Bill 31, the law that defines the Montreal metropolitan community, which includes all the cities on the Island of Montreal, will be amended to replace the expression "social housing" with "housing." As a result, she said, subsidies that used to go exclusively to municipal offices managing low-cost housing, housing cooperatives and non-profit organizations, will now go to private interests. This is being done while the Minister of Revenue in his fall budget update claims to be funding social housing.

Other spokespersons from organizations working to defend the homeless and tenants took the floor to reiterate, with examples, why the government must abandon Bill 31.

Participants then marched through the streets of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. They were warmly welcomed by local residents, whose banners and posters denounced Bill 31 and the arrogant assertions of Premier Legault and the Minister responsible for Housing in the face of public anger and indignation.

Participants said they are prepared to demonstrate again.