Vacant housing units in Montreal sit at 25,000 as rents soar
According to Radio-Canada, the city has as many empty residential properties as there are homes in all of Villeray.
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Montreal has roughly 25,000 vacant housing units on the island, according to Radio-Canada—a staggering number during a deepening housing crisis.
Experts point to landlords deliberately leaving rental units vacant for over a year to exploit a loophole allowing rent increases; properties acquired purely for real-estate speculation; and buildings left to deteriorate by absentee landlords planning higher-value redevelopment. The common thread, observers say, is financial incentive.
The scale is stark: the number of empty homes nearly equals the entire population of Villeray. If all vacant units were occupied, Montreal could house every homeless person in Quebec and still have about 12,000 empty units remaining.
Meanwhile, housing affordability continues to deteriorate. The city earmarked nearly $30 million this year to manage homelessness—funding that critics argue subsidizes property owners sitting on vacant stock while renters get squeezed out by skyrocketing rents.