A budget cut of 30%
Please sign this petition!!
Dear fellow tenants,
We have just learned from Société d’habitation du Quebec President John MacKay that the 2011 budget for the renovation of Low-Cost Housing (HLM) units across the province will fall to 200 million dollars from 276 million dollars.
This means that in 2011 a cut of 30% will be imposed on all Municipal Housing Offices that administer over 500 housing units and that other cuts will follow for the smaller housing offices in 2012. These cuts also mean that important construction work will again be delayed.
In concrete terms, these cuts will affect thousands of tenants who will continue to live in apartments with bad windows, frayed linoleum, and washrooms and kitchens without ventilation or proper plumbing. It will also mean that several buildings will remain inaccessible for people using personal mobility devices such as wheelchairs and scooters and that, amongst other things, the housing offices will have to abandon its program to retrofit apartments so as to enable the occupants to install individual washing machines and dryers.
These cuts are due to the refusal of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to finance these renovations. The CMHC should dedicate 140 million dollars of funding per year, however it now wants to limit its contribution to only 70 million dollars. That is why we need your help!
If each of the 400 Low-Cost Housing Tenant Association does its part, we will deposit a petition with tens of thousands of signatures to the 75 Quebecois Members of Parliament. This will be a strong lobbying tool in the run-up to the next federal budget as well as to the possible up-coming elections.
With your help, we will obtain the necessary money to renovate our homes!
Yours in solidarity,
Nicole Sirois
FLHLMQ Chairperson