Press review of early April

In this press review covering the news of the beginning of April, we have focused our attention on the issue of housing affordability, the acceptance of pets in dwellings, a probable return of employees to offices in downtown Montreal, and finally the announcement of the federal budget and its measures on housing.

While the city of Montreal is trying to improve the services offered to its citizens, a publication in the Metro newspaper made our readers react by mentioning the threat to affordable housing by the arrival of the metro in Saint-Léonard’s neighbourhood. In the same vein, actors from different backgrounds have expressed concern about housing affordability. For example, the President of Mouvement Desjardins deplored the difficulty of access to property and stated that he wanted to invest hundreds of millions in social housing. According to Ms. Bégin, an economist at Desjardins Group, this would have the effect of putting pressure on prices by making more housing available on the market. The President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities adds that the federal government must get involved to solve the housing crisis by increasing the supply of affordable housing, as reported in La Presse. Among other measures that have been reported in the news, Québec solidaire wants to introduce a tax "on any residential building put back on the market less than five years after its acquisition" which would counter real estate speculation. The funds collected would contribute to the financing of social housing, as reported in the newspaper Metro.

CORPIQ has been fortunate to get some airtime through media interventions, notably about accepting pets in apartments. First, an article was published on our social media in relation to a news where a landlord said she was unable to find a place to live because of her service dog. However, according to CORPIQ, which was able to comment in this article of TVA Nouvelles, it would seem that it is a rather special case because usually landlords accept the presence of service dogs as long as the permit is delivered by institutions recognized in the matter, which would not seem to be the case of that landlord.

Then, on the Salut Bonjour program, CORPIQ’s general manager stated that landlords are generally lenient with the presence of pets, especially cats, and to a lesser extent dogs. This follows Québec solidaire's proposal to abolish the box in section E of the lease that allows landlords to ban pets in their dwellings; the next day it was the SPCA's turn to launch a petition in the same direction.

There was also talk of affordability and the disruption caused by the pandemic: more and more people have been looking for larger dwellings that allow for telecommuting in an extra room dedicated to working remotely, and the search for tranquility outside of large urban centers, which has resulted in a scarcity of supply. CORPIQ's general manager reminds us that private construction companies are the best equipped to provide housing, but if profitability is not there, there will not be enough incentives to see the necessary quantity of housing appear on the market.

In addition, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal is considering a return of employees to 100% face-to-face work in downtown Montreal next September. Based on examples of European cities that saw their attendance rate rise from 47% to 61% from August to November, La Presse stated.

Finally, the federal budget is marked by measures aimed at solving the housing supply on the market. The newspaper Les Affaires reported that Ottawa will set up a $4 billion fund over five years to accelerate the construction of housing. This money to CMHC will support the creation of 100,000 additional homes by 2028. There is also the creation of a TFSA for first-time buyers (TFSA-FPB) that will allow Canadians under 40 years of age "to save up to $40,000 ($8,000 per year) towards the purchase of their first home on a tax-sheltered basis," according to a Journal de Montréal article.