Housing industry partners meet with the deputy mayor of Trois-Rivières
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 the deputy mayor of Trois-Rivières, Mr. Daniel Cournoyer, to discuss the municipality's vision for housing. On this subject, the City of Trois-Rivières shares the opinion that it is necessary to complete an impartial inventory in order 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.
"As other large cities in Quebec have done, we welcome the approach of the housing industry partners. Their concerted actions are in line with several initiatives already in place in Trois-Rivières to better house our citizens in a time of crisis. Moreover, it is with great pride that we have adopted a first housing policy, the result of a collaborative process with the community and citizens, which is already cited in other municipalities. I would like to conclude by saluting our fellow deputies in the region, who are important players and are working with the City of Trois-Rivières to find alternatives to these housing problems on the territory," said Daniel Cournoyer, deputy mayor of Trois-Rivières.
"Like many cities in Quebec, the City of Trois-Rivières has a major housing issue with a vacancy rate of 0.9%. Faced with this situation, the City has chosen to act by focusing on a global approach that goes beyond the building, and also takes into account people and their living environment. We believe that these are interesting approaches to curb the crisis," said the spokespeople for the housing industry partners Guillaume Houle of the ACQ, Paul Cardinal 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 starts.
"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 municipalities in this regard is essential," say the industry partners.
Towards a national housing action plan
Since the municipal sector is facing critical housing issues without adequate funding, the partners believe that the various levels of government must jointly conduct an objective review 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 and rise to the housing challenge.
