More than 600 Quebec families are still looking for a new home after July 1, as this year’s housing crisis is felt outside the major cities.
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In Drummondville alone, a municipality of 80,000 people, 135 families have yet to find housing, the most of any municipality.
“I think it’s an example of this housing crisis that we’re currently experiencing in areas outside of Montreal,” said Véronique Laflamme, spokeswoman for the Organization for Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU), the organization behind the package.
In Sherbrooke and Gatineau, the vacancy rate is close to 1%, with 50 and 40 households, respectively, still unaccounted for.
Further east, in Rimouski, a dozen families have been without leases since yesterday.
While the situation has worsened in the regions, it has not improved in the main centres. Montreal yesterday listed 118 households without new leases and Quebec 55.
According to FRAPRU, these figures are only the tip of the iceberg.
“These people are often staying with relatives, in temporary situations and in plan B,” says Véronique Laflamme.
Of the 600 families looking for housing, about 60 must have turned to their municipality’s emergency assistance to avoid being on the street.
The situation in the province
Drummondville: 135
Montreal: 118
Quebec: 55
Sherbrooke: 50
Catino: 40
Three Rivers: 24
Gowansville: 23
Granby: 20
Laval: 15
Chagune: 13
Rimouski: 10
Joliet: 10
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