Quebec looks to curb evictions with new housing bill

Quebec’s housing minister acknowledged on Wednesday that the province is in a housing crisis, as she tabled a bill that would impose a three-year moratorium on certain types of evictions and boost protections for low-income renters aged 65 and older.

France-Élaine Duranceau’s proposed legislation would prevent landlords from evicting renters in order to subdivide, enlarge or change the use of a housing unit.

“An eviction or the threat of an eviction causes immense stress, and we want to prevent as many Quebecers as possible from finding themselves in that situation given the few alternatives at their disposal right now,” she told a news conference.

“In a crisis context, losing one’s housing can have immense consequences which can lead to homelessness, so we must avoid that,” she added.

An owner would still be allowed to repossess a unit for a close family member.

The moratorium would last three years but would end early if the rental vacancy rate for all Quebec cities with more than 10,000 people reaches three per cent. The vacancy rate was 1.5 per cent in Montreal in January, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Duranceau’s bill would also extend Quebec’s law against evicting low-income seniors to cover people beginning at age 65 instead of 70, and it would raise the income at which a person becomes eligible. The government estimates that some 24,000 households would be protected by this new measure.

The seniors eviction law is named after former Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Françoise David, and Duranceau on Wednesday acknowledged the left-wing rival party’s contribution to the expansion of the legislation. Members of Québec solidaire have long pushed for the measures in the bill, and met with