Housing industry partners meet with Longueuil 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 Catherine Fournier, Mayor of Longueuil.
“I commend the steps taken by the partners,” said Catherine Fournier. “Housing affordability is a huge challenge, and the key to addressing it is to rally all stakeholders around a vision and a clear, focused and results-oriented action plan. We hope to have this action plan in place as soon as possible so that we can meet the urgent needs of the population. Longueuil is fully committed.”
The spokespersons 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 UDI—said: “Like many cities in Quebec, Longueuil is facing a major housing problem with a vacancy rate of 1%. In response, the city has decided to take action using a comprehensive approach that goes beyond buildings to include people and their living environment. We believe that this is a promising approach to mitigating the crisis.”
Concerted action is needed
As the housing shortage pushes up rental prices and makes it harder to buy a home, the only way to sustainably cool the overheated housing market is to increase supply. The housing industry partners will work with municipal leaders on identifying solutions to further stimulate housing construction and review the many mechanisms that are holding back housing starts.
The partners believe that “improving the supply situation and creating a long-term vision to overcome the crisis requires all players in the industry to roll up their sleeves and work together to find solutions that will increase and accelerate the development of new housing units. The voice and role of municipalities are key to this approach.”
Towards a national housing action plan
With municipalities facing critical housing issues without adequate funding sources, the partners believe that the different levels of government must work together to conduct an objective review of the challenges and issues driving the housing crisis.
The partners agree that it is essential to carry out such a review so that government authorities at all levels can then develop a real action plan that will address the housing shortage throughout Quebec and in which their respective measures are complementary and coherent. With objective findings and such an action plan, government authorities will be able to bring together all relevant social and economic players to meet the housing challenge.
