Until recently, Montreal was known as a city where rents were affordable, even for artists on the brink. But in recent years, the metropolis, like the rest of the major cities in Canada, has been shaken by a housing crisis.
On April 24, hundreds of tenants and housing groups from across the province demonstrated on Plateau-Mont-Royal. Their requests? A rent freeze, a provincial rent register, and a moratorium on evictions. They want to engage in a genuine dialogue with the Minister of Housing and demand that the City be more stringent in its own regulations.
On this occasion, Cédric Dussault, spokesperson for the Reunification of Housing Committees and Tenant Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ), addressed the crowd behind the Mont-Royal metro station.
“Free negotiation between landlords and tenants in the current context simply does not exist,” he said. Not in a context of exploding rents (...) where a large number of tenants live under the constant threat of fraudulent eviction or the taking over of housing in bad faith.”
Several demonstrators held signs calling for the resignation of the Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, who was previously a real estate broker. Representatives of housing committees say that she has never spoken to them, but that she often meets with landlords.
In Montreal in 2023, the average rent published online for one three and a half was $1,805, an increase of nearly 14% in one year. In addition, The vacancy rate in Montreal was 1.5% at that time.
“It is a multiple crisis that is causing a public health crisis,” says Annie Lapalme, community organizer at Entraide Logement Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
“We think it's even a humanitarian crisis. It has effects on all areas of people's lives. People who go to food banks are because they can no longer afford their housing, which is made too expensive. We can't continue like this, we're going up against the wall,” she protests.
Another sticking point, according to her, is short-term rentals. “The City regularly says that it will take action to attack Airbnb. At the moment, we have plenty of them in [Hochelaga-Maisonneuve], but the borough is sending the ball back to Quebec. Quebec doesn't do much, so it's constantly in the neighbor's yard,” she reports.
Photo: Emelia Fournier
Claude Jalette came from Trois-Rivières to participate in the demonstration. Accompanied by five other people, she carried a sign that read: “Housing crisis — Legault is slow! ” This Infologis coordinator told us that building new homes was not enough: landlords can increase their rent every year by the amount they think is appropriate, five years after construction.
“The middle class is also being completely impoverished by new homes [less than] five years old, where there are no standards [of acceptable rent increases],” she notes.
Roxanne Deniger, from the Center for Women's Education and Action (CEAF) in Montreal, recalls that access to affordable housing is essential for women's safety.
“[Many of them] do not leave their homes because of domestic violence. We also think of women with children who have difficulty finding housing in an increasingly difficult economic context,” she said.
Photo: Emelia Fournier
An endless attempt at renoviction
Julien* and Patricia Garcia know something about housing difficulties. Neighbors for seven years on Plateau-Mont-Royal, these two friends have teamed up as part of a legal process against their owner.
Despite her small size, Patricia, who is 71, takes up a lot of space with her big gestures. Her face is expressive. She is both smiling and serious when she talks about her love for her community in the Plateau or the damage caused by gentrification.
Julien is warm and gentle with Patricia, but when he discusses his problems with his owner, he turns into a lawyer, so to speak: informed, passionate and in search of justice.
The two each pay around $1,000 per month for multi-bedroom apartments, a rarity on the Plateau. Patricia lives in an old renovated garage, where she runs her beauty business. That is where we end up.
According to them, their landlord is trying to evict them from their building, which could take them away from the neighborhood. “It's terrible. I am looking for apartments near here. There are none. And moving a workshop from its place, we are losing customers! ” laments Patricia.
She has lived on the Plateau since she immigrated from Mexico 35 years ago. In this neighborhood, she can do everything on foot: shopping, visiting her two daughters and granddaughter, and going to the parks. “I couldn't change neighborhoods. It is impossible. I will do everything to stay here, to be next to my daughters,” she said.
The two tenants, in turn, told us about the stress and difficulties they have been experiencing in recent years with their new owner.
Since a company took possession of their block in 2021, the other four units in the building have been converted into Airbnb apartments, with rents of over $4,000 per month.
The new owner sent an eviction notice as soon as he took possession of the building: “We intend to take over your home at the expiration of your fixed-term lease, in order to subdivide your home.”
Julien consulted a lawyer. City regulations that came into force in 2022 prohibit the subdivision of residential housing. Once notified, the new owner withdrew his eviction notice. But little by little, he managed to convince the other tenants to leave their homes.
“It destroyed a community! ” exclaims Julien.
“With COVID, when everyone had to stay home, we had coffee outside. [Neighbors], we were all friends. Now, it's really terrible to live with Airbnbs in the building. I don't feel safe in my apartment. There are strangers everywhere. From time to time, they think my apartment is an Airbnb. They try to open the door, they look out the windows, they take my things. Outside, they make a lot of noise; they are disrespectful because there is no established relationship,” he laments.
Patricia assures that the continuous rise in rents and the presence of Airbnbs “are deteriorating the quality of life of Montrealers” of the middle class. “The worst of all this is that we kick people out and uproot them from their neighborhood, all because of the desire to earn a lot of money,” she regretted with outrage.
Photo: Emelia Fournier
In a letter sent in June 2022, their owner asked them to leave the building in October for a period of eight months to “redo all the units on the property in order to bring them up to date”.
Fearing that this evacuation was more than temporary and that the owner would impose a rent increase as a result of his renovations, Patricia and Julien then engaged in a race against this work.
Their lawyer, Daniel Crespo, believes that homeowners often take advantage of temporary evacuations to renovate.
“The problem is that there are a lot of inconveniences that result from this temporary evacuation; so it often turns into a permanent evacuation. If the owner is unable to negotiate a permanent evacuation, he takes advantage of the tenant's supposedly temporary absence to renovate and rent immediately to someone else. In doing so, it prevents the original tenant from returning to the apartment,” he explains.
For two years, Patricia and Julien had to assume legal fees, conduct pre-hearings and adapt to changes in hearing dates. Finally, a hearing was scheduled by the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) in April 2024.
Patricia went through a lot of stress because of all this uncertainty. “I had a slight depression, I had insomnia problems with all this terrible stress of dealing with a man who wants more money,” she regrets.
But the day before the hearing, its owner abandoned the case. Daniel Crespo assumes that the owner could not demonstrate that the major renovations were essential.
“Of course, we were happy not to pass in front of the TAL, to not have to wait for a judgment to see if we were going to win or not, summarizes Julien. At the same time, we had already prepared all our documents. We already paid a lot for lawyers. So [the damage] was already done, even though he gave up at the last minute like that.”
Julien has five other ongoing cases at TAL with his owner. “A species of judicial guerrilla”, this is how Daniel Crespo calls the owner's maneuvers against his client.
In one of the files, it is thus alleged that Julien did not collaborate in the installation of Internet cables for Airbnbs.
“It is a frivolous request, which has no factual basis. The request is for $1,500. It has already gone through a three-hour hearing, and we are not done. All that's a lot more than $1,500 in lawyer fees... The aim here is not for the owner to recover the amount he thinks Julien has cost him, it's really just to exhaust it,” says Daniel Crespo.
However, TAL cannot refuse to process files submitted by owners, regardless of their frequency.
“There is this kind of asymmetry that allows owners to spend, spend, spend on lawyer fees, but it also reveals their intention,” says Daniel Crespo.
Committees to help
There is a way for tenants to learn about their rights: housing committees, which provide them with advice and information.
Marie-Ève d'Entremont, community organizer of Plateau Mont-Royal Housing Committee (CLPMR), is receiving more and more calls from tenants who want to fight against significant increases in their rent. On the Plateau, in 2021, 32% of households spent more than 30% of their income on housing.
During the four In recent years, the number of consultations at the CLPMR has increased by 81%. “And it's not just us, it's all the housing committees! ” explains Marie-Eve d'Entremont.
This increase in demand is also due to the underfunding of Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), which is managed by the provincial government, she explains.
“The employees are burned. They are not able to answer the phone [to give advice]. It's super hard for renters to talk to someone because the employees are just on the edge. Answering these types of questions is part of the mandate of the Administrative Housing Tribunal,” she explains.
She encourages all renters to contact their housing committee for advice. Tenants always have the right to refuse a rent increase or a notice of eviction without cause, she recalls. “Alone, you can feel completely overwhelmed. But when you meet other tenants and then get organized, you regain power on the ground,” she concludes.
A “free negotiation”?
Cédric Dussault, spokesperson for the RCLALQ, believes that it is necessary to go further than simply knowing your rights to combat the housing crisis.
He says that the City is not strict enough with landlords, especially with the development of Airbnbs and the maintenance of buildings. “The City even has the power to expropriate wrongful owners. There are a lot of steps before getting there, but ultimately, the City could do that. Obviously, it's a power she never uses,” he regrets.
According to him, the three levels of government show a lack of awareness of this crisis by attributing it to a lack of housing. “This idea, that the fundamental problem of the housing crisis is a question of supply, is false. It's a magical thought,” he said.
It points to the concentration of real estate ownership. One Study published in 2023 indicates in fact that less than 1% of homeowners in the city own nearly 32% of Montreal's rental stock.
“The big real estate companies can afford to pay more [for buildings]. So, as they drive up prices, buildings are less and less accessible to the smallest owners. It allows big real estate companies to buy more. It is a phenomenon that is accelerating. We do not have a monopoly, but a concentration that ensures that there is a market controlled by a minority of owners.”
Photo: Group of housing committees and tenant associations
“It takes better communication”
Martin Messier, the president of the Quebec Landlords Association (APQ), also believes that small owners are in a very precarious situation at the moment, in particular due to higher interest rates and rising insurance.
“We are no more capable. When I have to have a roof renovated, it costs me three times what it cost me before, and my insurance costs me five times as much. It goes up everywhere,” he explains.
He believes that all the regulations and costs in Quebec mean that there are fewer investments in housing construction, but adds further that this is not necessarily a disadvantage for owners: “We don't build a lot of homes. Since there is no housing, we can charge the price that it costs us and make money on top of that. There's not that much competition. It is a factor in the rise in prices,” says Mr. Messier.
Instead of wasting a day at TAL, Martin Messier believes that landlords should present a detailed justification of their costs and explain rent increases well to their tenants.
“I think it takes better communication. Often there are people who refuse [the hike] because it is too expensive. But the tenant should take the time to ask why their rent is rising. And to the owners, [I tell them] the same thing, namely that you have to say [to the tenant]: “Look, I'll explain it to you, the calculation grid that I filled out with the TAL.””
Opposition to regulations
Marie Sterlin, district councillor in Plateau-Mont-Royal, accompanies Julien in his case. She passed a new regulation that prohibits the transformation of residential housing into an Airbnb apartment in the neighborhood.
But she says she is facing resistance from owners. “We have an opposition that is really being organized. But we did not give up,” she says.
The city received a report from Airbnbs in Julien and Patricia's building. This type of apartment is not allowed if it is not the owner's main residence. However, this report did not lead to anything.
“Once a complaint is filed, it's very difficult to prove that someone uses Airbnb. It is only with the help of the provincial that we will get there; they have the resources. The province can check the tax return, ask, “How come you have two addresses?” ”, explains M.Me Sterlin.
She also considers that fines are not sufficient to deter some owners. She regrets that the City is not exploring the possibility of expropriating the buildings of the wrongful owners at this time, as suggested by RCLALQ.
The future of Julien and Patricia...
On May 22, Minister Duranceau proposed a three-year moratorium on evictions “to subdivide the dwelling, expand it substantially or change its use”. But even if this bill is adopted, for Julien and Patricia, the fight is far from over.
They have to go back to the TAL to challenge significant increases in their rents and fear new maneuvers by their landlord. But Julien and Patricia say that together, they will continue to fight for their rights.
“There is something in there that is not working and that we will solve together. You can't unseat renters just because someone wants to make thousands more dollars. We are not going to let go”, adds Patricia.
The owner of Julien and Patricia refused to talk to La Converse. As for the Minister of Housing, she did not respond to our request for an interview.