West Island tenants called on to fill out survey

Tenants successful nan West Island are being called connected to capable retired a study astir their experiences.

Very small information has been collected successful nan past astir renters. Until a twelvemonth ago, nan area did not person a lodging committee.

The precocious founded West Island Tenants Action Committee thinks that nan deficiency of resources for tenants could beryllium caused by “a communal misconception that nan West Island is afloat of homeowners, that location simply aren’t tenants,” organization organizer Lily Martin said.

According to nan lodging committee, 20 per cent of lodging units successful nan West Island are rentals. Forty per cent of those households unrecorded successful unaffordable housing, meaning they salary much than 30 per cent of their income connected rent.

Moreover, “the West Island makes up 12 per cent of nan full organization of Montreal, but we person only 4 per cent of its societal housing,” Martin said.

Housing activists opportunity that tenants successful wealthier areas often go invisible, moreover though they tin look further challenges.

“You evidently request to person a measurement higher income to beryllium capable to spend surviving successful those neighbourhoods,” FRAPRU co-ordinator Catherine Lussier said. “Especially erstwhile location is nary easy entree to nationalist proscription aliases different services.”

Trending Now

The study intends to stitchery much elaborate demographic information, arsenic good arsenic get a grounds of nan challenges faced by tenants, specified arsenic harassment from landlords aliases bug infestations.

Before this committee was created, it was neighbouring lodging groups that addressed West Islanders’ concerns.

Lussier says nan problems FRAPRU was contacted for astir often concerned “sanitation issues, but chiefly for precocious rent increases.”

Advocates are hoping to cod accusation from group who do not cognize astir nan services they offer, aliases who do not usage them. They want to overgarment a afloat image of nan needs and challenges of tenants successful nan area. To that end, nan study will beryllium unfastened for responses for 3 months, until mid-October.