Duranceau will not go further to protect senior tenants

Photo: Michaël Monnier Archives Le Devoir Currently, to be protected against evictions, you must be 65 years old and over, have resided in housing for at least ten years and have an income corresponding to a maximum of 125% of the income giving access to HLM.

Isabelle Porter and Marie-Michèle Sioui in Quebec

Published yesterday at 11:59 a.m. Updated yesterday at 5:25 p.m.

• Quebec

The Quebec Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, believes she has reached a point of “balance” and will not go any further in her bill on evictions to put tenants seniors sheltered.

The legislative text she tabled on May 21 sets three conditions to determine whether an elderly person will be protected from evictions. She must be 65 years old or over, have resided in her home for at least 10 years and have an income equivalent to a maximum of 125% of the threshold giving access to low-income housing (HLM).

Québec solidaire proposes to increase this last threshold to 150%. In Montreal, this amount would then be equivalent to $57,000; it is currently $38,000 and would be $47,500 under the current version of the bill.

In a press scrum on Thursday, the minister Duranceau rejected this proposal. “I think at 125% it’s balanced. Beyond that, it is not optimal for maintaining a balance in the ecosystem,” she said.

“In Balance”

She reiterated that her proposal “is in balance,” for both tenants and landlords. “The two elements on which we acted were those which had the most impact. And what we are also told is that the people we are trying to protect with this bill, generally, have been in their homes for well over 10 years,” she added.

By raising the threshold from 100% to 125% of that giving access to HLM, the Duranceau cabinet estimates protecting 24,000 additional households, for a total of 60,000 .

Québec solidaire also announced in the afternoon that it intends to return to the charge by demanding to protect seniors who have lived in their homes for 5 years , and not 10.

Minister Duranceau’s bill must be adopted by June 7 to come into force. In order to speed up its adoption, deputies from all parties agreed to send it immediately for detailed study, without holding consultations. “I think everyone is in a state of mind to move things forward quickly so that, obviously, it has a concrete impact quickly on people's lives. So, I [am] very attentive, but also very determined to move things forward,” assured the Minister responsible for Housing.

“There are only 13 articles” in this legislative text, she also underlined.