Montreal tenants push back: rent reform under fire

In Montreal, hundreds of tenants gathered to protest the proposed reform to Quebec’s rent control system. Community organizers warn that the this reform's approach to calculating annual rent increases is deeply flawed and risks making housing even more unaffordable.

Under the reform, rent hikes would be tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). While this might sound neutral, the CPI itself includes housing costs. That means rent increases will drive up the CPI, which then justifies even higher rent hikes. Organizers describe this as a dangerous “self-feeding” or inflationary cycle, where tenants could see rents rising at an accelerating pace year after year.

Maryan Kikhounga-Ngot, a community organizer with P.O.P.I.R - Comité Logement, explained that this would push many working-class tenants out of their longtime neighborhoods, particularly in areas like St-Henri and the South-West of Montreal, which have already faced rapid gentrification. For tenants living paycheck to paycheck, even small annual increases add up, making it nearly impossible to stay in the communities where they’ve lived and built their lives.

Noémie Beauvais, an organizer from the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ), emphasized that the impacts won’t be limited to Montreal. Demonstrations have already spread to towns and cities across the province, including Rouyn-Noranda, Amos, Joliette, Saint-Adèle, and Quebec City. With a new housing minister recently appointed, organizers hope this wave of mobilization will pressure the government to abandon the new rent calculation reform and strengthen tenant protections instead.

Tenants are calling for real rent control measures that prevent runaway increases, protect vulnerable renters, and make housing a human right.