Sherbrooke faces low-income housing crisis

By Gordon Lambie
Sherbrooke faces low-income  housing crisis
Sherbrooke City Councilor Pierre Avard, Normand Couture of the Association des Locataires de Sherbrooke, and Sherbrooke MNA Christine Labrie making a joint appeal for more housing support at Sherbrooke's Alfred-Élie-Dufresne Park on Thursday (Photo : Gordon Lambie)

The Association des locataires de Sherbrooke, represented by spokesperson Normand Couture, was joined by Sherbrooke MNA Christine Labrie, Sherbrooke City Councilor Pierre Avard, and Municipal Housing Office (OMH) Executive Director Marie-Claude Bégin to underline a dire and immediate need for more low-income housing in the city on Thursday. “What we are doing today is asking for Minister Laforest to respond to the request by the OMH for support for renters who have yet to find a new place to live,” said Labrie, explaining that there are 20 low-income households known to the OMH in the city who will be on the streets as of July 1 due to a lack of available housing. “As of next Monday, these families will have no place to live,” she said, “We need an answer.”
According to Bégin, it is not unusual for there to be between five and eight households still in search of a place to live in the city in the lead-up to July 1 each year, resulting in a need to call for emergency support. This year’s 20, however, combined with a lack of response from the provincial government, makes the situation more dire. See full story in the Friday, June 28 edition of The Record.

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