Whether intentionally or not, it's common to see the terms "affordable" and "social" associated when talking about housing. Yet, in reality, these two adjectives have very little in common.

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"We're experiencing an unprecedented housing crisis" - Manon Charest 

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) defines affordable housing as follows: "Housing is considered affordable if it costs less than 30% of before-tax household income".

Social housing is defined as "a type of dwelling whose objective is to house tenants while respecting their ability to pay, i.e., taking their income into account" (Infologis).

These units are partly subsidized by governments and regional housing offices. In Vaudreuil-Soulanges, subsidies are provided by the Office régional de l'habitation de Vaudreuil-Soulanges (ORHVS).

"When we talk about affordable housing, people should be spending around 30% of their income on housing. So, to afford a 51/2 at $2300 a month, a household, i.e. a single parent or a couple, would have to earn $90,000. For social housing, tenants will spend the equivalent of 25% of their income on rent. There are very tight eligibility criteria," explains Manon Charest, General Manager of the ORHVS. 

"Social housing and affordable housing are very complicated. The criteria are set by the Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ) and CMHC. We're working very hard to influence the network of Quebec housing offices, but it's very difficult. We have very restrictive rules that make it very difficult to help people," laments Manon Charest.

Currently, the ORHVS manages some 261 subsidized housing units in cooperatives, housing NPOs and with private owners, in addition to 254 HLM-doors on the Vaudreuil-Soulanges territory."We manage around 500 leases a year, and we want to continue this growth to help as many people as possible while we wait to build new housing units," emphasizes the General Manager.

Different rules within the MRC itself

While the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC has its share of complexities, not least the fact that some towns are members of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), when it comes to managing social housing, things are no different. Depending on whether or not a municipality is in the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), the rules for accessing social housing are not the same.

"A single person or couple living in the CMA must earn no more than $38,000 a year to qualify for subsidized housing or HLM. Outside the CMA, a couple or a single person must earn $23,500 to qualify for social housing or the Rent Supplement Program (PSL)," adds Ms. Charest. 

On the Vaudreuil-Soulangeois territory, 14 municipalities are included in the Montreal CMA: L'Île-Perrot, Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, Terrasse-Vaudreuil, Pincourt, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Pointe-des-Cascades, les Cèdres, Coteau-du-Lac, Les Coteaux, Saint-Zotique, Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac, L'Île-Cadieux, Saint-Lazare and Hudson. 

"There is a huge disparity within our MRC when it comes to offering subsidized housing to our vulnerable families. The biggest and most shocking disparity is when you look at Les Coteaux, which is part of the CMA.A single person or couple earning $38,000 a year can benefit from subsidized housing. The tenant can spend 25% of his or her income on housing. But in Rigaud, which is outside the CMA, a household cannot benefit from subsidized housing if it earns more than $23,500 a year.And yet, rents are more expensive in Rigaud than in Les Coteaux," continues the General Manager. 

As everywhere else, the law of supply and demand has a major influence on the cost of rents available on the market. As a result, moving away from the major centers is no longer so advantageous.

"People are moving farther and farther away because they can't afford to live here, but we realize that rents are more expensive in Rigaud than in Les Coteaux, for example. It's the law of supply and demand," says Ms. Charest. "In Rigaud, there's a boom, but we can't help people.And yet, there are housing units at $1,500, $1,600, for 41/2s.Unfortunately, they can't be subsidized because we have people earning over $23,500. This disparity is absurd.In Saint-Lazare, if you earn $38,000, you're fine, but if you cross over to Saint-Clet, you're not," adds Manon Charest.Agreements with the private market

Since last year, the SHQ has allowed housing offices to allocate an unlimited number of subsidized units, and has invited organizations to enter into agreements with real estate developers and apartment building owners. 

To address the housing shortage in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, the ORHVS has signed some 30 agreements with various real estate developers over the past year. "We are developing multiple partnerships with private owners to be able to offer social housing to people who meet the criteria," explains Manon Charest.

"We have young property managers who want to get involved in society and who are contacting us to find out how they can help because they're ready to free up some of their units to offer social housing.  This provides them with a guaranteed income from the ORH. It's really nice to see.We invite developers who want to get involved to contact us.We'll explain how it works," adds ORHVS project manager Marie-Ève Brisson.