Housing advocates are calling for extending the eviction moratorium law as the number of repossessions by landlords in the province triples in 12 years, according to data from Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL).
The findings were published during a press conference Monday by the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ).
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The study covering 2019 to 2023 also showed TAL approved nearly two-thirds of repossession requests during the period leading to more than 2,200 units going of the rental market, with the majority being affordable housing units long occupied by the same tenants, according to RCLALQ.
“The TAL treats homeowners and tenants differently, generally to the advantage of the former,” said Renaud Goyer, a researcher at the Collectif de recherche et d’action sur l’habitat (CRACH).
“Evictions disproportionately affect people who have been rooted in their communities for years, often in housing with rents below the market average. This is no coincidence, but rather proof that our legislative model is synonymous with housing insecurity,” Goyer added.
RCLALQ notes that while the number of evictions have declined due to Bill 65 which banned evictions for three years between 2024 and 2027, repossessions reached historic highs between 2021 and 2026.
The tenant rights group says that was because the current moratorium laws do not cover reposessions.
“The right to evict is an exception to the right to remain in the premises,” said Jean-Christophe Bureau, community organizer at RCLALQ.
“But the moratorium leaves a huge loophole: repossessions are not covered. Landlords have understood this well, we have understood this well, and the government should understand it too!”
RCLALQ is calling on Quebec Housing Minister Karine Boivin-Roy to expand Bill 65 to include repossessions.
