Housing

Very little rental housing can be found in the southern West Island region. Social housing and co-operatives are virtually absent in this area.

A significant number of tenants in the southern West Island spend over 30% of their income on housing and when the cost of maintaining a household is this high, less money is available to cover the cost of food, medication, education and other essential costs of living. In municipalities such as Kirkland and Baie d’Urfé, the percentage of tenants who live in unaffordable housing is as high as 54% and 57%, compared to 41% in the rest of Montreal.¹. Rental accommodations are rare and more costly than in Montreal – the proportion of rental housing varies from 6% in Kirkland to 41% in Sainte Anne-de-Bellevue, compared to 61% in Montreal². Homelessness, especially in the form of couch-surfing, is a growing concern in the West Island, especially among the youth.

During public consultations with the citizens, affordable housing was one of the priorities identified for the southern West Island. A working committee has been formed and its role is to elaborate and implement an action plan in order to see improvements in housing situation in the area.

For more information or to participate in the committee, thank you for contacting us at (438) 938-7764 or at info@tqsoi.org

References:

• Policy Brief – Housing Policy Considerations for the Southern West Island, 2017
• On the benefits of affordable housing, 2017
• Le phénomène de la domiciliation précaire chez de jeunes adultes dans la zone Ouest-de-l’Île de Montréal, 2014
• Portrait du logement sur le territoire de l’Ouest-de-l’Île, 2014
• Canada-National-Housing-Strategy-2018
• Le rôle des municipalités dans logements social, 2012
• Plan d’action metropolitaine pour le logement social_pamlsa-2015-2020
• Plan d’action metropolitaine_pamlsa-2015-2020-sommaire
• “Portrait of the Population of the Southern West Island”, Table de Quartier de Sud de l’Ouest de l’Île, 2015.
• “West Island homelessness exists in the shadows”, CBC News, 2012.

¹Source: Census of population, 2011.
²Source: Census of population, 2011.