Quebec municipalities look to double off-market supply as they discuss affordable housing crisis

In their first face-to-face with the province's new housing minister, Quebec mayors are sounding the alarm about the gravity of the crisis they are facing. Montreal's mayor says she knows that the city will be short 200 shelter beds this winter. We've been very, very clear around the fact that all municipalities in Quebec have one of the biggest challenges we have is, yes, housing and the homelessness issue. The mayor joined others from the Montreal metropolitan community at a housing summit. They are working towards a goal of increasing off-market housing in the region, from the current 9% to a minimum of 20. And I need time to build it. And so I'm asking citizens to be indulgent, be patient. I know this is difficult, but this is difficult also for the people that are living on the street. And we need to build the housing that they need in order to find a real solution, a sustainable solution to the encampments. The mayor says the crisis is linked to issues of mental health and drug addiction. The mayor of Longueuil says the problems are the same off-island. We also need to preserve affordable housing that already exists. Thank you very much. Those are the best and the most affordable housing that we know and we could act. More rapidly? Quebec's new housing minister says her government will try new ways to get housing built and speed up construction of housing units. Québec ne réglera pas la crise d'habitation à la place des villes. Nous la réglerons avec les villes, ensemble, en partageant les solutions que je sais que vous avez nombreuses, en innovant, en étant de réels partenaires. Community organizations agree off-market housing is the best solution. We need this $20,000. The housing minister says the province is waiting for more funding from Ottawa and is also waiting to hear about more news about the existing agreement between the two levels of government.