To achieve this objective of balance on the rental market, CORPIQ pleads for more flexibility, both on the part of the provincial government and the municipalities, whose “taxation and current public policies are detrimental to the development of a quality and plentiful rental offer.”
“Densification is not necessarily about building 30-storey buildings,” Plante says. It could be to allow a triplex in a neighbourhood made up of single-family dwellings, or to develop a dwelling in the basement of a house or in an accessory building. “The owners find themselves in an administrative heaviness. Could they renovate their bathroom tiles themselves, for example? A little more flexibility should be allowed, especially in a context of labour scarcity,” Lessard said.Article content
“The government has every interest in helping to maintain the existing stock because that’s where most of the affordable housing is found,” Plante adds. For Cédric Dussault, spokesperson for the RCLALQ, the CORPIQ study cannot be taken seriously as it is complacent. He said the conclusions of the report were probably “predetermined” because they echo long-standing requests from CORPIQ.
“The human aspect is completely removed from all that. In fact, there are a few barriers left to allow the defence of tenants’ rights and preserve the affordability of the rental stock, but with its recommendations, CORPIQ wishes to bring them down. It’s dangerous and worrying.”