‘Things will start moving’
MRC housing director says
Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter
The MRC Pontiac is collecting new data on housing needs in the region by way of a public survey that seeks input from homeowners and renters alike.
“We all know that there is a huge housing crisis in Canada, particularly in Quebec. The Pontiac is touched by this crisis,” said Rachel Floar-Sandé, MRC Pontiac’s economic development officer for housing.
“It’s hindering economic development,” she added. “Businesses are having a hard time hiring because of the lack of housing.”
Floar-Sandé said the survey, which closes Feb. 29, will be used to create an updated profile of the state of housing in the Pontiac, likened to a market study, to help local governments and developers better understand the needs and the holes in the market.
“There is land available and there are developers that are potentially interested in building. There are projects that are underway and upcoming,” Floar-Sandé said.
“What we’re waiting on now is for the funding to come through, streamed from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) […] We have heard that the government is going to be giving money to help with the construction of affordable housing.”
Floar-Sandé said the region’s greatest needs include affordable housing for families and seniors, more housing for vulnerable people with nowhere to stay, and housing for professionals.
According to a 2021 report from the Pontiac Community Development Corporation, “Single people of all ages and single-parent families are those households most in need of safe and affordable housing. However, there are few options available to them . . . There is insufficient rental housing for the low-income population, as well as for people who wish to settle in the MRC.”
Tyler Ladouceur is the director of AuntonHomme Pontiac, a social service organization based in Campbell’s Bay that provides Pontiac residents, particularly men, with mental health support and temporary housing.
“Except for elderly people, there’s not really anything in the Pontiac right now in terms of apartment buildings for lower-income housing,” he said. “That is a big problem.”
A big part of Ladouceur’s work involves helping the people living in AutonHomme’s temporary housing facilities find more permanent affordable housing, but the lack of low-income housing makes this difficult.
Ladouceur said the organization will sometimes place people in “lesser quality apartments”, ask that they return to couchsurfing with friends, or simply keep them housed in AutonHomme’s temporary facilities for extended periods of time, but that none of these options are good for the people who arrive at the organization looking for help, who are often unhoused and struggling with some form of mental illness or living with addictions.
“It’s kind of a vicious circle we’re stuck in,” Ladouceur said. “If we can’t find a place, sadly some clients go back into the same situations they were before because they’re sick of being in our services, or they get disappointed because they’ve done all that work and can’t progress to the next step.”
Ladouceur typically works with single people looking for housing, but said that since last fall, he has seen an increasing number of families without an affordable place to live.
“Obviously if [the MRC] could find more money that would be amazing, but it’s also a question of getting a lot of actors together,” Ladouceur said, adding he believes there is potential in creating partnerships with the private sector.
A big part of Floar-Sandé’s work as economic development officer for housing is looking for available land in the MRC, and liaising with municipalities about land that might be available for development.
“I find municipalities and land owners are very open to wanting housing development in their municipalities,” she said.
“We have a crisis. It’s not just the Pontiac, and it needs to be dealt with. I do believe that things will start moving.”
The survey can be found on MRC Pontiac’s website, under the ‘Public Consultation’ tab at the top left of the home page.