2023-06-28 08:00:00
For the mayors of Quebec, few dates are more mobilizing than July 1st. Families on the street, households housed in hotels, explosion of homelessness: the crisis crushes more people each year and impoverishes us collectively.
As elected officials, we are grappling with the devastating consequences of the crisis. Fellow citizens, loved ones and workers struggle to find housing in living environments close to jobs, schools and services.
In this context, the government has just tabled Bill 31, which will notably modify the assignment of leases, removing a tool that limited rent increases. This change in the law will lead to an increase in rents in Quebec.
Clause G
This effect on rents would be less significant if clause G worked. Remember that the law requires it: the amount of the most recent rent must be indicated to the tenants to allow them to refuse an abusive increase when signing a new lease. However, a new Leger survey tells us that the law is not applied: only 20% of tenants say that clause G has been fulfilled by the landlord.
The demonstration has been made: solutions are needed to stop the inflation of rents, to restore the balance, and to defuse the housing crisis. However, there is a concrete solution, ready to be deployed now: a public, universal and mandatory rent register.
We now know that this solution is more necessary – and realistic – than ever. The Vivre en Ville platform is already fully funded, and will be offered to the government at zero cost. And Quebec already has the necessary data sources for a register to apply immediately, in all its regions.
concrete tool
By adopting a rent register, the Government of Quebec would give itself a concrete tool that Quebec municipalities need. By facilitating the negotiation of downward prices in the rental market, a rent register would act on the whole of the residential market and would contribute to curbing the real estate inflation resulting from the optimization of rents. This data would allow municipalities to follow the evolution of our housing stock in real time, would facilitate the delivery of services, and would allow us to better target investments in the residential market.
If the Government of Quebec recognizes this historic opportunity, it will find a panoply of allies on the ground to accompany and support it in the adoption – at no cost – of a national register of rents. As mayors, we are committed to working with government to find solutions to the housing crisis. Like Quebec, the well-being of our fellow citizens is at the heart of our actions.
Stéphane Boyer, Mayor of Laval
Julie Bourdon, Mayor of Granby
Mathieu Lapointe, Mayor of Carleton-sur-Mer
France Bélisle, Mayor of Gatineau
Guillaume Tremblay, Mayor of Mascouche
Benoît Dorais, Mayor of the Sud-Ouest borough, Vice-President of the Executive Council, and Head of Housing for the City of Montreal
Geneviève Dubois, Mayor of Nicolet
Bruno Marchand, Mayor of Quebec
Guy Caron, Mayor of Rimouski
Julie Dufour, Mayor of Saguenay
Andrée Bouchard, Mayor of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Evelyne Beaudin, Mayor of Sherbrooke
Jean Lamarche, Mayor of Trois-Rivières
Mathieu Traversy, Mayor of Terrebonne
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