Housing industry partners meet with Laval mayor
The Association de la construction du Québec (ACQ), the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l'habitation du Québec (APCHQ), the Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec (CORPIQ) and the Urban Development Institute of Quebec (UDI) met with Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer to discuss the municipality's vision for housing. On this issue, the City of Laval shares the opinion that it is necessary to complete an objective assessment of the situation to lay the foundations for an action plan with all the players: municipalities, the provincial government, the federal government, the community sector, the private sector and civil society.
"Clearly, no one has a magic answer to solve the housing crisis. It is certainly a complex issue that requires the collaboration of all partners involved in the supply of housing. I therefore applaud the efforts of the coalition members for their positive participation in resolving this crisis. It is together and with innovative solutions that we will improve housing conditions in Quebec," declared Stéphane Boyer.
"Like many cities in Quebec, the City of Laval has a major housing issue with a vacancy rate of 1.8%. Faced with this situation, the City has chosen to act by focusing on a global approach that goes beyond the building itself and takes into account people and their living environment. “We believe that these are interesting approaches to contain the crisis," emphasize the representatives for the housing industry partners Guillaume Houle of the ACQ, David Dinelle of the APCHQ, Marc-André Plante of CORPIQ and Jean-Marc Fournier of the IDU.
The need for concerted action
While the housing shortage is responsible for soaring rental housing prices and the difficulty of accessing home ownership, the only way to reduce overheating in a sustainable way is to increase supply. The housing industry partners want to work with Quebec's municipal leaders to find solutions to further stimulate housing construction and review the many mechanisms that are holding back housing constructions.
"In order to improve the supply situation and establish a long-term vision to get out of the crisis, we believe that all players in the housing sector must roll up their sleeves and look in the same direction to find solutions to increase and accelerate the development of new housing units. The voice and role of the municipalities in this regard seem to us to be essential," say the industry partners.
Towards a national housing action plan
Since the municipal world is faced with critical housing issues without an adequate source of funding, the partners believe that the various levels of government must jointly conduct an objective examination of the challenges and issues that are responsible for the crisis in the housing sector.
In order to respond to the housing shortage in all regions of Quebec, the four organizations maintain that this joint diagnosis is essential to enable government authorities at all levels to develop a real action plan in which their respective actions will be complementary and coherent. Armed with these objective findings and this plan, government authorities will be able to bring together all the social and economic players to meet the housing challenge.
