Good day.
Le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) is a group of 145 social and community organizations active in various regions of Quebec. These include 30 housing advisory committees that are at the heart of FRAPRU’s initiatives.
For 45 years, FRAPRU has been working on housing rights and promoting social housing as fundamental to the progressive implementation of those rights.
The housing crisis is a hot topic these days. It is a multi-faceted crisis. The rental housing shortage, which is at a 20‑year high in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, is now affecting almost all municipalities in Quebec. One aspect of the crisis is the increasing unaffordability of rental housing. To give just one example, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the CMHC, the average rent in Canada increased by 7.7% between 2021 and 2022. Quebec experienced a 9% increase. Gatineau next to Parliament Hill, had a 22% increase over the same period. The few rental units available are far more expensive. Last spring, the average rent for available listings in Quebec was $1,500. When housing is unaffordable, it has an impact on the ability of renters to pay. That ability to pay is part of the right to adequate housing.
It must be said that, first and foremost, this crisis affects tenant households and low- and modest-income households. I want to emphasize this because, as a percentage, far more tenant households have core housing needs; this problems affects low-income households in particular.
I'll give an example from the latest census, in 2021: 1,624,715 Canadian tenant households already spent more than the standard 30% of their income on housing. Those households have a median income of $30,000. In Quebec, that median income is significantly lower, at $22,800. Those households are unable to afford private-sector housing, much less newly-built private-sector housing, even with government assistance. That's why, in my speech, I really want to stress the importance of non-market social housing.
The Canadian government can and must do better to help low- and modest-income renters access adequate housing for the long-term, in a manner that respects their security of tenure and ability to pay.
There aren't 10,000 ways to do that: a bigger percentage of all rental housing stock needs to be non-market social housing. The current percentage is insufficient. The monopoly held by the private market is putting renters in a bind with no options. A number of them are becoming visibly or invisibly homeless give the lack of options. They need social housing, but they have to wait years to get it. In Quebec, the percentage of rental housing stock classified as social housing has actually decreased; it is now approximately 10.2%.
History proves, however, that it's entirely possible to reverse that trend. Between 1971 and 1991, sustained federal investments in meaningful policies and programs increased the share of social housing in Quebec, from 0.5% to 9.7%. Housing built during that time has become part o our collective heritage, which now serves as a bulwark against the rise in rents, real estate speculation and gentrification.
It is clear that the National Housing Strategy, presented as an $82 billion plan over 10 years—more than five of which have now passed—, has not kept the housing and homelessness situation from worsening. Our comments echo mounting criticism, whether from the Federal Housing Advocate, the National Housing Council, the Parliamentary Budget Officer or the Auditor General. The funds available under the strategy need to be reallocated. It should be a priority in the upcoming budget and even in the fall economic update. I'll speak to this in a moment.
The federal plan falls far short of the objectives set out in the legislation passed in 2019, specifically to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing as recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The strategy has failed because the funding is scattered. To date, the government has chosen to leave it up to both the for-profit private housing sector and the not-for-profit public housing sector. Furthermore, the government's strategy focused solely on the construction of housing, without considering whether it meets the needs and abilities of the families and individuals most in need, about whom I spoke earlier.
Some federally funded projects even contributed to the rising cost of rent. Only the Rapid Housing Initiative was successful and reserved for the non-profit sector. However, it was the only non-recurring program and, unfortunately, the recent federal budget does not provide further funding for it.
The National Housing Strategy progress reports demonstrate that its two most important initiatives have, to date, been used to fund unaffordable housing. Even though we are critical of the national housing co-investment fund, which is not a significant program, it has helped to round out funding for non-profit and cooperative housing in Quebec. Nonetheless, the subsidies available under this fund ran out some time ago.
Consequently, FRAPRU believes that the federal government must change course and significantly increase funding for social housing. We urge the committee to...