Despite the arguments of the opposition parties, the Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, remained inflexible on the issue of rental transfers during the consideration of Bill 31 on housing, reiterating that it is not a means of controlling rents.

Lease assignment has become an instrument of rent control because the other existing instruments do not workSolidarity deputy Andrés Fontecilla responded to this argument, adding that the minister was demonstrating of angelism in this file.

In particular, Minister Duranceau reiterated that the owner of a semi-detached house has the right to decide who wants to live above his head. It’s a scarecrow to make people believe that if there is no further lease transfer there will be a Wild Westshe said, reminding that other rules were in effect.

I would like to know why we now view lease transfers as a major issue when we are in the middle of a housing crisis. […] I would like to know what the Minister’s response is to those who say that this is the worst time to abolish the possibility of transferring leasesasked PQ MP Joël Arseneau.

France-Élaine Duranceau responded that other provisions of the bill would protect tenants, particularly with regard to evictions.

Liberal MP Elisabeth Prass criticized the minister for only caring about the owners.

It’s not a tool for you, but it is for tenant advocacy groups. I ask you to be more open-minded and consider the reality of tenants and not just owners.

France-Élaine Duranceau, while admitting that she does not have data on the subject from her ministry, assured that the transfer of the lease is taking place a growing problem.

We rely on the various associations we have spoken to. This must clearly be the case at the tenant level [des cessions de bail]. If it causes such an outcry, it is because it is widespread.

Bill 31 has attracted a lot of attention since its introduction in June last year. The minister immediately announced that she wanted to tackle rental transfers, which had caused anger among tenant groups.

If this bill is adopted, an owner may refuse to assign a lease for reasons other than serious ones. The minister defended herself by arguing that if an owner refuses to transfer a rental agreement, it will simply be terminated.

Last September, Prime Minister François Legault did not rule out the possibility that his government might relent on lease transfers when we learned that the number of homeless people in Quebec had increased by 44% compared to 2018. A report from the National Institute of Public Health Quebec City stated that the lack of affordable housing was one of the causes of this increase.

Controversial amendment adopted

On Wednesday, parliamentarians debated at length another controversial measure in Bill 31, which was finally passed on Thursday. Article 37.2 allows municipalities with at least 10,000 inhabitants and a vacancy rate of less than 3% to disregard their own planning regulations for the construction of at least three housing units.

A municipality can also deviate from its rules if a construction project primarily concerns social or affordable housing or housing for students. A municipality that wants to use this measure simply needs to organize a public meeting. The duration of this exemption is a maximum of five years.

According to Liberal MP Virginie Dufour, this change is changing completely the nature of the bill.

Same story from PQ MP Joël Arseneau. The description of today’s bill does not correspond at all to that presented in June. He is completely differenthe argued.

The Association of Construction and Housing Professionals of Quebec (APCHQ) supported this amendment on the X network. Section 37.2 of Bill 31 is a priority for a flexible response to the housing crisis. We have to act quickly, our communities are running out of breaththe organization wrote on Thursday.