Moving Day in Quebec: More than 2,000 households still looking for accommodation

A 'For Rent' sign is visible in front of houses in Montreal on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

With less than a week to go until 1 July, 2,153 households were actively being supported by a housing assistance service in Quebec, the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) said on Thursday — more than at the same time last year.

For FRAPRU spokesperson Véronique Laflamme, this situation is a cause for concern, given that housing vacancy rates have risen in several areas.

“Housing is being built, but these properties are so expensive that they are beyond the means of many tenants,” Laflamme said.

“We must remember that, for many, this will happen in the very next few days; for others, it will be a little later in July. But to see such high figures, at a time when the vacancy rate has risen, is very worrying for the future,” she added.

At this time last year, 1,989 households were receiving active support to find accommodation. The number of households receiving “active” support includes those who are already in accommodation.

Laflamme pointed out that it is not only the major urban centres that are affected by the housing crisis. In Montérégie, 407 households are currently being actively supported in their search for accommodation, while 165 are in Lanaudière and 166 in Mauricie, according to FRAPRU.

In Mauricie, “despite the rise in the vacancy rate more tenants have sought help this year than last year,” Laflamme explained.

She highlighted the case of Trois-Rivières, Que., where the vacancy rate tripled between 2024 and 2025 (rising from 0.9 per cent to 2.7 per cent).

“And despite this, there are many households who are receiving active support in their search for accommodation,” said the FRAPRU spokesperson.

“So, really everywhere, there are tenants facing situations of great insecurity because they haven’t found the accommodation they need.”

The Montreal region currently has 279 households receiving active support, according to FRAPRU’s survey. 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, this figure stood at 2.1 per cent. CMHC noted, however, that despite this increase, “the most affordable units, meanwhile, remain in short supply.”

In the city, the average rent for two-bedroom apartments 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 stood at 2.4 per cent, and the average rent for two-bedroom apartments was $1,277, up 6.1 per cent, according to CMHC’s 2025 report. In 2024, the vacancy rate in Quebec City stood at 0.9 per cent.

“This rise marks a slight easing of the market following a long period of historically low rates. Vacancy rates have increased 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,” said Laflamme.

She maintained that it is “urgent that structural measures be put in place to tackle this housing affordability crisis.”

The FRAPRU spokesperson called on the various parties in Quebec City to tackle this crisis, with an election campaign due to take place this autumn.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 25, 2026.

Coralie Laplante, The Canadian Press