Over 2,100 Quebec households still looking for housing as July 1 approaches
By Caroline Plante, The Canadian Press and News Staff
Last Updated June 28, 2026
With less than a week to go before July 1, 2,153 households were actively being assisted by a housing search service in Quebec, the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) reported Thursday—more than at the same time last year.
For Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for FRAPRU, this situation is concerning, especially as housing vacancy rates have risen in several areas.
“Housing units are being built, but they are so expensive that they are beyond the means of many tenants,” Laflamme emphasized.
“We have to remember that, for many, this is happening in the very next few days; for others, it will be a little later in July. But seeing such high numbers, even as the vacancy rate has risen, is very concerning for the future,” she added.
More households seeking help despite higher vacancy rates
At this time last year, 1,989 households were receiving active assistance in their search for housing. The number of households receiving “active” assistance includes those already in housing.
Catherine Lussier, coordinator at FRAPRU, said the increase reflects a worsening affordability crisis rather than a lack of available units.
“Compared to last year, there were 1,990 tenant households in the same situation. So we see, obviously, the increase, and it’s not surprising considering that even though, in certain regions of Quebec, the vacancy rate has increased, so there is more housing available. But what we can see is there is less housing available that is truly affordable. So what is available on the market right now is the most expensive rent. And what is truly affordable is still really not widely available.”
Lussier added that the figures likely underestimate the scale of the problem.
“It really symbolizes, first, the people that have joined and reached out for help. So it could be just the tip of the iceberg, if I can mention it that way. There are more tenants that probably struggle out there and haven’t yet reached out to their local services. But definitely for us, it’s showing how difficult the housing crisis is for a lot of tenants. Affordability is really another problem.”
Housing pressures extend beyond major cities
Laflamme pointed out that it is not only major urban centers that are affected by the housing crisis. In Montérégie, 407 households are currently receiving active assistance in finding housing, while 165 are receiving such assistance in Lanaudière and 166 in Mauricie, according to FRAPRU.
In Mauricie, “despite the rise in the vacancy rate (…), more tenants have sought assistance this year than last year,” Laflamme noted.
She highlighted the case of Trois-Rivières, where the vacancy rate tripled between 2024 and 2025 (rising from 0.9 to 2.7 per cent). “And despite that, there are many households that are actively being assisted in their search for housing,” said the FRAPRU spokesperson.
“So really everywhere, there are tenants facing situations of great insecurity because they haven’t found the housing they need.”
The Montreal region currently has 279 households receiving active support, according to FRAPRU’s survey.
Vacancy rates rise, but affordable housing remains scarce
The latest report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) indicates that the vacancy rate for rental housing was 2.9 per cent in the Montreal metropolitan area in 2025. In 2024, that figure was 2.1 per cent. CMHC noted, however, that despite this increase, “the most affordable units, meanwhile, remain in short supply.”
In the metropolitan area, the average rent for two-bedroom units was $1,346 in 2025, up 7.2 per cent.
FRAPRU also reports that 301 households are receiving active support in the Capitale-Nationale region.
In the Quebec City metropolitan area, the vacancy rate was 2.4 per cent, and the average rent for two-bedroom units was $1,277, up 6.1 per cent, according to CMHC’s 2025 report. In 2024, the vacancy rate in Quebec City was 0.9 per cent.
“This increase marks a slight easing of the market after a long period of historically low rates. Vacancy rates have risen in several areas of the region, including Basse-Ville, Les Rivières, and the South Shore,” reported CMHC.
“This housing crisis is a crisis of unaffordable housing,” argued Laflamme.
Montrealers say affordability remains the biggest challenge
The concerns raised by housing advocates were echoed by several Montrealers, who said rising housing costs continue to make finding a home increasingly difficult.
“Real estate has become some kind of a gambling game, and people need to live somewhere. And I think we should pay attention to that before we pay attention to profit,” one Montrealer said.
Another resident said the issue is not a lack of construction, but the type of housing being built.
“I think we’re not building enough, from the best of my knowledge, and developers are asking for prices that are just a little bit insane. When we are building new condos and stuff in the city, it’s luxury condos. They’re not affordable. We’re not building affordable housing. I think that’s a main problem we’re dealing with right now.”
Another Montrealer said renters are feeling the strain, particularly students.
“I see that people are really struggling to find a house. And especially renting is really expensive nowadays, I think… It’s pretty hard for people, especially students, university students, who are struggling to finance both housing and groceries.”
Calls for long-term solutions
Laflamme maintained that it is “urgent that structural measures be put in place to address this housing unaffordability.” The FRAPRU spokesperson called on the various political parties in Quebec City to tackle this crisis, as an election campaign is set to take place this fall.
Lussier said emergency housing services continue to help tenants across Quebec, but argued governments need to focus on preventing the annual housing crunch rather than responding to it after the fact.
“We want every tenant out there that needs help to receive the adequate support they need… We know emergency services have been put in place, with more than 40 services across Quebec… But what we don’t really see from the Quebec government is really doing things before to prevent what we actually see every first of July, as we have for the past few years.”
She said FRAPRU is calling for more social housing, stronger rent control measures—including a rent registry—and greater protections against renovictions, repossessions and evictions.
Looking beyond this year’s moving day, Lussier said lasting solutions will require greater public investment in housing that is affordable from the outset.
“We need to really work to develop social housing that is truly affordable at the moment tenants enter those units, and not defer affordability for later on, because that’s what costs less money. But we can build more. If we keep building what is expensive, we’re just pushing the prices up, and we’re not putting any alternative in place for those tenants who are actually struggling. We’re not helping to prevent homelessness. We’re definitely not working in a good direction.”
Lussier added that single people, single-parent families and households looking for larger family-sized apartments continue to face some of the greatest challenges finding housing they can afford.
www.montreal.citynews.ca/2026/06/25/over-2100-quebec-households-no-housing-july-1/
