About fifty people marched through the streets of Villare and Park-Extension departments in Montreal on Saturday afternoon. Organizers are calling on political officials to recognize the housing crisis in an environment where the rental market in the city is heating up.
Protesters gathered under the sun in Jorry Park before strolling the streets of Montreal. Many tenants wanted to cry from the heart, with signs of “Park-X Dance La Ru”, “in Villarre, to resist staying there”.
The event was organized by the Villare Tenants Association (ALV) and the Park-Expansion Action Committee (CAP). According to these two systems, more and more tenants are catching a “renewal” situation.
Nicole Bissonnett and her daughter Karen are threatening to be evicted from their home where they have lived for 28 years. “We’re all always a little nervous,” Karin said, pointing to the uncertainty of their situation.
Jocelyn Telegre, in her seventies, has been battling a renovation situation in her building for two years. “Mayors need to be interested in their surroundings, do something and build affordable apartments. We are not all millionaires,” the woman shouted.
“Since August 2020, we have over 60 file updates or discharges. At the moment, we are pursuing 45 tenants for renewal or eviction cases, ”said Celia Deutsche, Cape Community Organizer.
When landlords do great work on a building and ask tenants to vacate their accommodation, the term “renovation” is used, only to increase their rental price. Sometimes the former occupants of the apartment can not afford the price increase. And may find themselves homeless.
“The answer is politics. At the current rate of the market, we cannot rely on caring for low-income tenants, especially as the 1st year approaches.There is July, ”said Charles Castongue, ALV’s social organizer. This demands greater security for the rental market, but also for rent control.
“We want to put pressure on a government that has not yet recognized the existence of a housing crisis,” Charles Castongue pleaded. “In the central suburbs of Montreal, we have been in a housing crisis for a very long time,” he said.
Many came to offer their support to tenants facing eviction threats.
“I do not want to be in this situation for a few years,” said Louis Hamida, a Member of the Knesset for Kadima. “The city has done nothing about it. We are watching [la crise du logement] In Toronto and Vancouver, ”he feared that rental prices would continue to rise.
The vacancy rate on the island of Montreal is 3.2%, according to the January 2021 Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report.
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