Over 70 Montreal households in emergency housing as affordability in city gets worse

A 'For Rent' sign is shown outside a residential building on Quebec's unofficial moving day in Montreal, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

A little over a week after Quebec’s unofficial moving day, 71 households in Montreal remain in emergency housing — almost twice as many last year when there 40 in that situation.

Most of these households were left without a home in the lead-up to July 1, when many leases expire in the province. They’re staying in rooms paid for by the city, including in hotels or units belonging to community organizations.

“It’s always catastrophic, the fact that we have 71 households in emergency accommodations,” said Rouzier Métellus, director of the social and community development service at Montreal’s housing authority — Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal. “It’s people who, on the personal level, can’t find a network, or their network can’t support them anymore.”

This increase is set against the backdrop of rising housing costs in Montreal, where affordability continues to deteriorate despite improving nationally. According to a recent study by RBC Economics, Montreal is a housing outlier in Canada, with an affordability measure the bank said hasn’t been as bad since 1990.

For Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for a non-profit housing rights organization, the increased use of emergency housing is not in itself bad news.

“To us, it’s positive that more tenants are housed (in these accommodations) because in many cases, when no concrete help is presented, that’s when there are risks of seeing people slip into homelessness, visible or invisible, because they have no other option.”

However, she highlights the need for more affordable permanent solutions for tenants, including social housing.

The municipal emergency accommodations remain free for two months, after which payment is determined on a case-by-case basis, explained Métellus.

The housing authority supports these households in their search for permanent housing. This emergency measure is meant as a temporary solution, according to Métellus, who said there is no official cap on how long people can stay. But he said the city’s housing agency tries to make sure people find permanent housing at most within a few months.

The total number of households actively followed by the housing authority has gone down compared to last year, from 296 to 208. However, this number only includes people who have reached out to the group or its partner organizations.

In all of Quebec, 1,724 households are staying in temporary housing or receiving active assistance from the provincial government’s housing authority to support them in their search for a place to live. Of that number, 401 are living in temporary accommodations.

To Jayne Malenfant, assistant professor at McGill University, the number of people without a home after moving day reflects a larger problem with housing in Montreal and Quebec.

“Even after moving day, we should be thinking about housing and people are still increasingly facing rents that are not affordable to them or being evicted,” they said.

According to Malenfant, part of the cause of this crisis is that some tenants rights protection have been taken away or softened in the last few years. Renter protections, Malenfant said, were part of the reason Montreal historically stayed cheaper than Toronto and Vancouver — a trend that has started to shift.

In a study published in late June, RBC Economics found that condos in Montreal were less affordable than those in Toronto in early 2026, a first in 16 years. Toronto remains one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, but declining condo prices and increasing salaries in that city have made condos there more affordable compared to Montreal.

Increasing costs affect the Montreal housing authority’s services, according to Métellus.

“The people we’re accompanying are less able to pay for housing costs in Montreal,” he said. “There’s an affordability crisis in Montreal, and that means it takes longer for us to help them find solutions.”

Malenfant points to two factors driving this increase. First, they say the housing market has become increasingly focused on investment than on providing people homes, meaning even empty units can lead to resale profit for owners. Second, they say people often oppose building social housing in their neighbourhoods because of “moral judgment and stigma” around poverty.

Laflamme points out that most vacant units in the city are at a higher price point than what struggling tenants can afford, meaning they do little for those who find themselves without a home after moving day.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2026.

Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman, The Canadian Press