MONTREAL — The city’s housing office has been working overtime to find lodging for about 250 families and individuals who were left without homes on Canada Day.
The office says there are still about 100 apartments left to be found.
“I think that we have a solution for everyone, and we will have it definitively by the end of the week,” said Normand Daoust, head of the housing office.
The housing office was successful in assuring no one slept on the street by arranging storage for their things and lodgings in the downtown YMCA for the 36 people who had nowhere to turn.
Most Montreal apartments have leases that end June 30, leading to an annual mad scramble for apartments. The city has long been known for its plentiful, cheap apartments, but now has its lowest vacancy rate in 15 years thanks to a booming economy. This year’s vacancy rates for two- and three-bedroom apartments sits at 1.3 and 1.2 per cent respectively.
The housing problem promises to repeat itself next year if nothing is done, warns the Popular Action Front for Urban Renewal.
“We sure hope the city doesn’t think that now that the 1st of July is behind us that everything is solved,” said Marie-Josee Latour, a spokesman for the social housing group.
