Quebec finance minister unveils plan to address hunger, homelessness and climate change

With economic growth slowing dramatically, Quebec intends to take a targeted approach to pressing social issues like food insecurity and the housing crisis, Finance Minister Eric Girard announced in an economic update Tuesday.

The Finance Ministry is projecting a deficit of $4 billion for the 2023-24 financial year, with a gradual return to a balanced budget by 2027-2028.

"The situation is extremely difficult for Quebecers," Girard said. "We are not in a recession but we are certainly in a difficult period that can be described as stagnation."

While the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government will not be sending cheques to Quebec households, as it did in the past to help with inflation, the mini-budget does contain some tax breaks.

In order to increase investment in some programs, the government will be tapping money that normally would have gone into its contingency funds, to the tune of $1 billion a year.

Most of the spending is aimed at three areas.

Quebec will spend $1.8 billion (half of which is federal funding) over six years to build 8,000 social and affordable housing units.  Of that sum, $1.6 billion will be used for building 7,500 housing units for low-and-moderate-income households and $225.2 million will be used to build 500 housing units reserved for homeless people, under the Quebec affordable housing program.

Quebec has earmarked $338.2 million over five years to tackle homelessness.

Additionally, $123.7 million has been earmarked for emergency assistance related to homelessness as well as for offering culturally safe services for Indigenous people experiencing homelessness. Based on the latest count between 2018 and 2022, the number of people who were visibly homeless jumped to 44 per cent from just under 6,000 to about 10,000.

While Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon welcome some of the measures, particularly those for food banks, he says the CAQ government has "long kept its head in the sand" when it comes to the housing crisis, and criticized the absence of a plan to help first-time homebuyers.

"A whole generation will not have access to property because it's completely unaffordable in proportion to their salaries," St-Pierre Plamondon said.

Québec Solidaire critic Christine Labrie said Quebec needs 10,000 social housing units in two years.

"A crisis requires an urgent response and obviously, the CAQ is in no hurry to use the $1.8 billion ... to help people find housing."

With food banks pleading for help given a growing clientele, Quebec will provide five food organizations with a one-time targeted injection of $20.8 million to help. The funding will be distributed to: