While some Quebecers celebrate Canada Day, others partake in a more stressful tradition: moving day.
This year, stress levels are through the roof as people move amid a province-wide housing crisis.
Alicia Melancon considers herself lucky.
After a two-month search, she found an apartment in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal district for herself and her three roommates.
“We were lucky because here in this neighborhood it is very expensive. And we found something below the price,” Melancon said.
She is one of thousands of people moving in on Friday in Montreal. But this year, like last year, is not easy.
“[I’m] really stressed because the price was like a hurdle,” Melancon said.
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City and housing advocates prepare for moving day in Montreal
That’s because Montreal is experiencing a housing crisis and housing advocates say skyrocketing rents are now widespread across the province.
Across Quebec, rental prices on available listings are up nearly 10 percent, according to the Quebec Coalition of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations (RCLALQ).
“Family of four moving in right now? I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes,” said Michael Sevigny, who lives in the Milton-Parc area.
Sevigny says she considered moving out of her apartment, until she saw how much more rent now elsewhere.
Catherine Lussier, a community worker with the housing advocacy group Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), says the government needs to do more to ensure access to affordable housing.
“We are also seeing a lack of social housing development, which for us is a solution,” Lussier said.
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But Lussier says that thousands of social housing units promised in the last ten years remain unbuilt.
The province recently announced that it will build an additional 3,000 affordable and social housing units throughout Quebec.
But critics say those units won’t be built for years and more short-term solutions are needed.
“We need a real rent control system to make sure people have a reasonable rent. We need to bring order to companies like Airbnb that are taking neighborhood apartments off the real estate market, so we must act now,” said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for Québec Solidaire.
READ MORE: Community activist questions ‘affordability’ of Montreal’s new housing plan
Meanwhile, Quebec’s minister responsible for municipal affairs, Andrée Laforest, says immediate assistance is available for those who find themselves homeless on moving day.
“There is absolutely no reason people need to sleep on the streets tonight if they call our emergency teams at our housing offices,” Laforest wrote in a statement to Global News. “We have invested a record amount of money before July 1 as a preventive measure and have increased immediate help to tenants who need it. We are here to help.”
Laforest added that emergency accommodation and storage will be provided if necessary until the province can find a more permanent solution.
The City of Montreal encourages people without housing to call 311.
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