Following Quebec\u2019s traditional moving day on Wednesday, 71 households in Montreal are temporarily staying in hotel rooms provided by the city\u2019s housing authority.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s twice as many households as last year, the city said Thursday. Another 219 households at risk of losing their home are being aided by the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone that asked for help has been taken care of,\u201d Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada told reporters at city hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the city is still collecting data on the situation, the mayor said there has been a notable increase this year in the number of people who lost their home because of an eviction.<\/p>\n
Martinez Ferrada said the increase is a mix of people facing eviction because they could no longer afford their rent and bad-faith landlords forcing evictions, or so-called renovictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s clear there is still a lot of work to be done on the issue of tenants\u2019 rights to remain in their homes,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mayor said she is also aware of complaints from residents about large garbage piles following moving day. She noted the city is giving itself a week to clean up the streets.<\/p>\n
Martinez Ferrada said the Mercier\u2014Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough already has a team dedicated to the task and the downtown Ville-Marie borough has increased the number of blue-collar workers addressing the issue.<\/p>\n
She called on people to use the city\u2019s Ecocentres instead of leaving their belongings and trash by the curb when moving, describing the matter as a shared responsibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked if she would consider increasing fines for those who aren\u2019t respecting garbage bylaws, Martinez Ferrada said she isn\u2019t quite there yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it something we\u2019ll need to consider and act on by next year? It\u2019s a question worth asking,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously, people who aren\u2019t moving shouldn\u2019t need to deal with consequences from those who are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n