13th Tenants' Day - Tenants demonstrate to demand a rent freeze and effective rent control after unprecedented rises

DRUMMONDVILLE, QC, April 24, 2025 /CNW/ - Faced with an unprecedented crisis for tenants across the province, members of the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) issued a call to action today for the 13th annual Tenants' Day. Several hundred people responded to the call and converged on Drummondville for a large demonstration under the theme 'Rents are going through the roof, we need a freeze!'.

By blindly following an illogical and unjustifiable regulation on rent-setting criteria, the Rental Administration Tribunal (TAL) has set the rate for calculating rent adjustments at 5.9% for 2025, a 30-year high.

The recent changes proposed by the Minister for Housing will do nothing to change this situation. The Minister refuses to revise this year's rate of 5.9%, leaving tenants to face an uncontrolled explosion in rents and a lack of effective rent control measures.

"The government and the Minister, with their new version of the regulation on rent-setting criteria, are pretending that they have resolved the crisis and that they have listened to tenants, when in fact the opposite is true. Once again, they are standardizing rent increases based not on the real costs of managing a building, but on a market logic that enriches landlords at the expense of tenants", denounces Mélanie Baril, coordinator of the Comité logement de la Petite Patrie and spokesperson for the RCLALQ.

To defend tenants' rights, RCLALQ members are demanding an immediate rent freeze. This emergency measure must be accompanied by the introduction of genuine rent control, including a mandatory and universal public lease registry, and real reform of the rent-setting method to exclude elements that disproportionately favour landlords' profits at the expense of tenants' rights.

Focus on Drummondville, symbol of an out-of-control housing crisis

The crisis is affecting the whole of Quebec, and the choice of Drummondville for the demonstration is not insignificant. According to the most recent CMHC figures, the cost of renting in Drummondville rose by a staggering 14.1% in 2024. This dramatic increase, which can be explained in part by the very high increase rates published by the TAL last year, illustrates the devastating effects of a market left to its own devices: growing insecurity, fraudulent evictions and a marked rise in homelessness.

"Behind these figures are families, the elderly, young people and single people struggling to find housing, food and a decent life. Homelessness is on the rise, the demand for help is exploding, and the social safety net is crumbling. This can't go on," says Mélanie Gamelin, a tenants' rights advocate with ACTION location Drummond and spokesperson for the RCLALQ.

Despite the alarm bells ringing from members of the RCLALQ, the government continues to turn a deaf ear, and the consequences of its inaction are serious. On the one hand, the TAL is favouring the interests of landlords with calculations that normalise abuses; on the other, the CAQ is refusing to adopt effective measures while knowingly fuelling a crisis where inequalities are widening at breakneck speed. Inaction is inexcusable.

The RCLALQ is calling on the public at large to take part in its "Red E-mail" campaign addressed to the Minister of Housing, calling for an immediate rent freeze and genuine mandatory rent control, including a lease registry, to protect all tenants. For more information, see the RCLALQ website: https://rclalq.qc.ca/ 

Pour plus d'informations, contactez les porte-paroles du RCLALQ:

Pour les informations en anglais, contactez: Félix Marois, organisateur communautaire au Bureau d'animation et information logement du Québec métropolitain (BAIL), 581-995-3429;

Nicole Dionne, coordonnatrice au Bureau d'animation et information logement du Québec métropolitain (BAIL), 418-456-6597;

Mélanie Baril, coordonnatrice au Comité logement de la Petite Patrie, 438-524-4514.

SOURCE Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ)