JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1510 West
A “slap in the face.” That is how a West Island tenants’ advocacy group described the annual recommended rental increase announced last week by provincial authorities, prompting a protest in Pointe Claire on Monday.
The news “was quite a shock,” said Lily Martin, a community organizer for the West Island Tenants Action Committee (CALODI), referring to the announcement last week by the provincial housing tribunal that recommended a 5.9-per-cent increase in rental rates – the largest one-year jump in rental rates in more than 30 years.
“It felt really like a slap in the face,” Martin added, as her group called on the provincial government to halt hikes in monthly rent bills.
CALODI outlined its call to action during a small protest at the Fairview bus terminus in Pointe Claire on Monday. Around 20 protestors braved the cold to show solidarity with renters and gathered dozens of signatures on a petition calling for a province-wide freeze on rents.
Freezing rents “is the bare minimum that needs to happen in order to prevent a severe and imminent escalation of the housing crisis,” Martin said.
Last Tuesday, the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) unveiled its annual recommended rent increase for landlords in the province. It recommended a 5.9-per-cent increase for rental properties that do not include heating. Units that include heating by electricity, gas or oil were recommended to increase rent by 5.5, 5 and 4.1 per cent, respectively.
The hike would see the average monthly rent for an unheated unit in Pointe Claire – the municipality with the most expensive average rent in the West Island – to increase to $1,971, up from $1,862.
As a community organization that educates West Island renters on their rights, Martin said CALODI “almost immediately started getting calls from tenants who had seen the news and were struggling to comprehend how such a high number could be possible.”
The TAL’s calculation takes into account annual increases in expenses for property owners. Landlords across the province may choose to use this recommendation as justification for rental increases, but frequently raise it at an even higher rate, Martin explained.
This latest recommendation will make a bad situation worse in the West Island, the group claims.
According to a survey conducted by CALODI, the acronym of the group’s French name, Comité d’acion des locataires de l’Ouest de l’Île, rental increases in the West Island emerged as the top issue tenants in the West Island struggling with.
The survey was the first of its kind conducted in the West Island. Martin claimed that about 40 per cent of renters in the West Island live in “unaffordable housing.” This refers to having to pay rents that account for more than 30 per cent of their gross household income.
On Monday, the group also called on provincial authorities to change the way TAL calculates landlord expenses when determining annual rental increases. The group says the calculation is skewed in the landlords’ favour.
That message has been echoed by numerous community organizations in the province, including the Centrale des syndicats du Québec and the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec.
Last week, Quebec Liberal Opposition Critic for Housing, Virginie Dufour, called the formula “outdated,” and claims it creates an “inflationary spiral,” and called on Quebec Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau to review and “modernize” the TAL formula.