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The number of forced evictions has “doubled” compared to last year, the Reorganization of Quebec’s Tenants’ Groups and Associations (RCLALQ) said Tuesday. The organization is calling on Quebec to “strengthen” mechanisms to protect tenants.
In its most recent annual compilation of evictions and evictions — which it has been conducting for several years — the RCLALQ listed 3,110 forced eviction cases in 2022, a 150% increase compared to the 1,243 files reported in 2021. In 2020, this number is 757; Between 2020 and 2021 there was a 64% increase.
In the metropolis, the number of forced evictions rose from 1,040 in 2021 to 2,256 in 2022. The figures are “alarming” because they represent the organization’s “largest ever recorded increase in annual collection,” it said last. The group urges the new housing minister, France-Alain Duranceau, to “act to strengthen the protection of tenants”.
The group’s co-spokesman, Martin Blanchard, lamented that “a significant proportion of forced evictions are malicious or fraudulent in nature”. “This is a tactic used by landlords to circumvent the law in order to refuse lavish increases and evict tenants who make substantial profits. […] This practice has become common,” he asserts.
In Quebec, the law allows an owner to rent an apartment to live there or to let a member of his family live there. In case of subdivision or extension of the dwelling, eviction is possible by paying compensation to the tenant. Renovation – taking advantage of work carried out in a dwelling to evacuate a dwelling – is however not permitted.
Tip of the iceberg?
According to RCLALQ, these figures represent only the “tip of the iceberg”, with forced evictions to the Administrative Housing Tribunal also increasing over the past year.
“Our collection only reports the number of tenants who consulted the Housing Committee to report an eviction situation. There are many areas where a lack of resources prevents us from collecting adequate data, but workers on the ground tell us that the phenomenon is in full blast everywhere,” said Cedric Dussault, the group’s other co-spokesman. Explains.
In addition to the rent registry, the RCLALQ is calling for Quebec to “make changes to the law to require all acquisitions, evictions and major work projects to be subject to court authorization and mandatory follow-up.” The organization also calls for “blocking takeover projects and those that lead to evictions” when the vacancy rate for rental accommodation, considered the market equilibrium rate, is below 3%.
“Why is the government waiting to act against evictions, which are increasing at an alarming rate and impoverishing thousands of families? Amid the cost-of-living crisis, François Legault can no longer ignore the housing crisis hitting Quebec hard. The new minister Duranzo must solve the problem at the source,” hammered housing critic Andrés Fontecilla on Tuesday.
In an email, Marc-André Plante, director of public affairs for the Corporation of Real Estate Owners of Quebec (CORPIQ), meanwhile dismissed the RCLALQ study’s findings, ruling that “there is no difference between legal evictions within the meaning.” Act and the receipt of an appeal by a housing association whose purpose is to protect tenants. “The conclusions are political operations rather than scientific observations,” he said.
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