Montreal faces uphill battle against squalid housing

It's been two years since the City of Montreal launched an actionplan to force delinquent landlords to repair their buildings.

However, the city's own data for 2015 shows the number of repairs not beingtaken care of within a reasonable amount of time has actually gone upfrom 18 per centin 2014 to 20 per centin 2015.

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A 'lengthy process'

Montreal's executive committee member responsible for housing,Russell Copeman,says the mainreason for that is thatlandlords with unresolved problems often drag their heels once the courts get involved.

"Once a file has been transferred to the courts, everything stops. Most owners say at that point, 'I'm not doing any work.I'll wait and see what the court order says,'"Copeman said.

"That's a lengthy process."

Copeman was part of the team that launched the 2014planto crack down on unsanitary housing in Montreal, with the goal of improving the lives of tenants and the quality of Montreal's housing stock.

He said theplan calls for a change in approach, beginning with more thorough inspections and then focusing on working with building owners to make a plan to get repairsdone.

"Sometimes these owners are just overwhelmed by the state of their buildings, so they need help," said Copeman.

"That's the new approach. It's a longer approach. It takes more time, but it pays off in the end."

Copeman points to other evidencethe city's plan is working.

For example, since 2012 city inspectors have more than doubled the number of infractions they've identifiedin each home they visit.

Penalties are alsostiffer, with fines for recalcitrant landlords going up by 25 to 50 per centin 2015.

'Nothing has really improved,' says tenants' advocate

However, Maxime Roy-Allard, a community organizer with theRegroupement des Comits Logement et Associations de Locataires du Qubec(RCLALQ), says he doesn't see any improvements for tenants on the ground.

"We've been waiting for three years for the city to give us a global portrait of the situation in apartments in Montreal because it could be 40 per centof apartments are in really bad condition, but we don't have the numbers," Roy-Allard said.

He said he'd like to see the city take a tougher stance with landlords.

Bed bug problem continues

Bed bugs continue to be a problem in Montreal, Roy-Allard said.

"Many, many tenants wait months, sometimes years, before their bedbug problem is solved. That's unacceptable," he said."They need to force landlords to solve the problems as soon as possible."

CouncillorKarineBoivin-Roy, who also worked on the city's action plan,described the bedbugissue as "stable."

She said the city is distributing pamphlets and advertising in Metro stations, with the hope that less people bring bed bugs into their homes during Montreal's moving season.