Nearly 200 affordable housing units left abandoned in eastern Montreal

There are almost 200 units of affordable housing in eastern Montreal being left empty as the city’s housing crisis worsens, according to Noovo Info.

Buildings on 24e, 25e, 26e and 27e avenues in the city’s Pointe-aux-Trembles neighbourhood that boast affordable units are currently vacant, according to some tenants.

“What’s happening isn’t normal because people are looking for housing, people staying in three-and-a-half apartments, and here it’s affordable and heated,” one of the tenants told Noovo Info.

They say the empty units have had door handles changed and the locks removed.

Noovo Info reporters were able to corroborate that out of 650 apartments in the area, nearly 200 are vacant, including units with two and three bedrooms.

However, receptionists at the buildings in question refused to give more information on the empty apartments.

When contacted by a potential renter, management had responded that there were no units available.

One man said his son was recently evicted and has been homeless ever since.

He said he has tried to find him an apartment in vain.

Having previously lived in a three-bedroom for years, he said he was looking for a two-bedroom, but found rent prices to be exorbitant.

Empty for over a year

Housing lawyer Manuel Johnson said landlords have an incentive to leave their units empty for over a year.

“After 12 months, there is no competition for rent on vacant properties and the landlord can increase rents at will,” he said.

This legal loophole, he said, is making the housing crisis worse as it keeps affordable housing off the market to allow for large price hikes.

City pressure

Now, the City of Montreal is promising to put pressure on the owner, even if it means expropriating the property.

Noovo Info has obtained a copy of a letter to be sent to the building owner demanding that he explain himself before the city exercises its right of first refusal.

The move would be a first for the administration and could be considered a way of setting an example to other building owners.

According to Marie-Claude Baril, a city councillor in Pointe-aux-Trembles, the owner has remained “very evasive” about his intentions to renovate the properties when she contacted him.

“I did some research to find out if any permits had been issued for work or renovations, but that’s not the case. So, it’s a bit of a request to find out how we can support him, whether he wants to rent them out or sell them. We have placed a right of first refusal on these properties with the City of Montreal, so we are interested,” she said.

Luc Rabouin, Projet Montréal’s candidate for mayor of Montreal, has promised to create a tax for recalcitrant landlords if he is elected in the fall election.

“Situations like this are unacceptable,” he argued. “There are available dwellings that are livable, and there are people who are deliberately not renting them out. We’re going to keep an eye on these landlords.”

Rabouin acknowledged that there will be challenges in implementing the tax, as the city does not have data on rented and vacant housing.

“It will require a lot of effort on our part. If we had a rent registry, we would have all the public information we need,” he said. “If we had a landlord who was leaving these units vacant and we had a housing crisis, we could consider buying them by force.”

The Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) said it welcomes the city’s promise and hopes it will inspire municipalities across the province to act.

“It makes no sense to allow and see so many vacant homes when there are dozens of households, families and individuals actively looking for a solution right now,” said Carl Lafrenière, a spokesperson for FRAPRU.

A need to increase housing

A spokesperson for Quebec Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau said, “It’s vital to increase the supply of housing, so we want every unit that can be rented to be available,” and noted the units in question are private, meaning they are not subsidized by the government.

“We have taken measures to restore the balance between tenants and landlords, so that they are well aware of their rights and better equipped,” she said. “We amended the Civil Code to require the landlord to indicate in clause G of the lease the last rent paid and the date of payment if no rent has been paid in the 12 months preceding the start of the lease, and to allow for the imposition of punitive damages when the landlord has knowingly omitted or misrepresented the notice.”

The representative of the company that manages the buildings in question declined an interview with Noovo Info.

However, during a brief off-camera interview, the owner of the apartment buildings insinuated that he was leaving the apartments vacant to renovate them at some point.