200 Montreal tenants have pledged to go on a rent strike this fall. Why more may join them
CBC
Ariane Lalonde pays more than $1,200 a month for a studio apartment she's converted to a two bedroom in Montreal — and she's had enough.
"We're all paying way too much," said Lalonde, who feels that she should be paying at most $800 or $900 for the space she's renting.
"My generation, we won't be able to have a house," she said. "I never thought I would not be able to when I was young. I took that for granted. It's insane."
Lalonde, who grew up in Gatineau and always dreamed of living in Montreal, feels caught between a rock and a hard place.
"The work is here, but not the possibility, the capacity to live here."
Lalonde is far from alone. She and about 200 other tenants have now pledged to participate in a rent strike this fall to protest rent increases and Bill 31, which would allow landlords to unilaterally block lease transfers. The pledges are being collected by the Montreal Autonomous Tenants' Union (MATU), which says it will call the rent strike if 5,000 or more people participate.
The rent strike would involve tenants withholding rental payments until their demands are met. According to one of the organizers, those demands could include a rent freeze or cap and amendments to Bill 31 to exclude a provision that would make lease transfers more difficult. The final strategy will depend on their momentum and the priorities agreed upon in strike assemblies.
"We see people who for the first time are struggling to choose between rent and groceries," MATU organizer Sarah Toews said in an interview on CBC's Let's Go.
Toews, who considers the rent strike an "emergency response," says their organization has already seen cases where landlords have refused legal lease transfers or illegally evicted longtime, elderly tenants from their homes.
"So we can only imagine how easy it will be for rent to skyrocket if this bill is passed."
Rent in Montreal is among the fastest growing in Canada.
According to an August 2023 report by Rentals.ca, apartment and condo listings in Montreal saw a year-over-year increase of 15.3 per cent — a growth outpaced only by Brampton, Ont., (18.6 per cent) and Calgary, Alta., (16.1 per cent). Average listed rents in Montreal are now $1,987, ranging from $1,464 for a bachelor (or studio) apartment to $2,539 for a three-bedroom apartment.
These numbers are almost double the overall average rents in Montreal reported by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 2022. Rents have also outpaced inflation: a $484-two-bedroom apartment in 1993 would cost $894 in today's dollars, below the current costs of new and existing leases for a similar unit.
To keep rents affordable, many Quebec tenants have depended on apartment swaps and lease transfers.
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