Quebec's housing crisis is causing mental health issues, community groups say
CBC
Housing and mental health advocacy groups say Quebec's housing crisis is causing tenants' mental health to deteriorate and they are asking the premier to act.
Community groups say they're getting an alarming amount of tenants calling for help in despair.
Cédric Dussault, a spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec, said some callers are expressing suicidal thoughts after losing homes they have lived in for decades and finding themselves with nowhere to go.
"It's not just materially and financially that this housing crisis is a burden for tenants, right now the toll on mental health is really heavy," said Dussault.
"We don't see a light at the end of the tunnel … We don't have solutions we can offer to tenants. Either there's no dwellings available, or they're completely unaffordable."
Tenants often have to fight for their rights, he said, which is an added burden for people who already struggle with their mental health.
That's the case for Peter Belland, an artist working from home who was diagnosed with depression 20 years ago. He said about 80 per cent of his salary goes to paying his rent, leaving little for food or leisure.
"One of the main causes for me, for my depression, is poverty. I've always lived in poverty," he said.
Recently he has been having trouble with his landlord, who he said has been trying to evict him from his Montreal apartment without success.
"I can't leave. If I leave there, it's the end of my career and the end of my life."
Concerned individuals and community groups penned an open letter with over 300 signatures to François Legault saying the province needs to address the issue at its root. Their demands include a moratorium on evictions, passing all home repossessions through Quebec's rental board and serious rent control measures.
Anne-Marie Boucher, a spokesperson for the Regroupement des ressources alternatives en santé mentale du Québec (RRASMQ), which co-wrote the letter, said it's not enough to only focus on mental health resources.
"Yes, this help is important, but we need to act on the causes of the despair and distress. We have to fund more socialized housing," she said.
"Sometimes harsh living conditions are provoking mental health problems. Sometimes the fact of having mental health problems makes people more at risk of living in poverty … We have to act."
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
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