Quebec's cooperative housing sector fights back against bill that could destroy the model

Tashi Farmilo

Quebec's cooperative housing federation condemned the provincial government May 6 after the National Assembly voted to revive a bill that advocates say would fundamentally destroy a housing model that shelters more than 13,500 households across the province.

The National Assembly voted May 5 to reintroduce a slate of legislation that lapsed when the legislature was prorogued last month during the Coalition Avenir Québec's leadership contest. Among those was Bill 20, the provincial government's attempt to reform access to affordable housing. The cooperative housing sector says it would do the opposite.

Patrick Préville, director general of the Quebec Federation of Cooperative Housing (FHCQ), did not mince words. "The government is making a death blow to the cooperative model," he said. His organization represents roughly 480 co-operatives across the province and is calling for Chapter 1 of the bill, which contains its most damaging provisions, to be withdrawn entirely.

To understand why, it helps to understand what a housing co-operative is.

When a unit opens in a housing co-operative, it is not filled the way a subsidized apartment is. It is filled the way a company fills a job. The co-operative posts the opening, reviews applications, conducts interviews, and selects a member based not just on income but on what they would bring to the community. Can they do bookkeeping? Are they handy with building maintenance? Are they willing to serve on the board, attend general assemblies, and take real responsibility for the place where they live? That willingness to participate is what keeps a co-operative running and, critically, what keeps rents low. Members do the work that a landlord would otherwise charge for.

Bill 20 would end that. Under the legislation, a government-appointed body would take over member selection, assigning applicants to co-operatives based almost entirely on income. The co-operative itself would have no say. "With Bill 20, they are telling cooperatives that from now on, an external body will choose their future members based solely on income," Préville said.

The downstream consequences follow a clear logic. Members assigned by a government body rather than chosen by their co-operative may have no interest in the volunteer labour that sustains the building. Maintenance does not get done. Boards go unstaffed. Eventually the co-operative has to hire people to do what members used to do for free. "If there is no one to look after the building, you have to hire people," Préville said. "That increases costs. And when costs go up, rents go up." The minister's stated goal of promoting affordable housing would be gutted by the very bill designed to achieve it. "The cooperatives risk becoming HLMs (Low Rental Housing) without employees," he said. "That is very alarming."

The bill was introduced by former Housing Minister Caroline Proulx in February in response to a 2025 Auditor General's report finding that a number of tenants in affordable housing units were earning more than the programme's income thresholds. The government's answer is financial penalties for co-operative members whose earnings exceed a set limit, with the SHQ (Société de l’habitation du Québec) empowered to cancel the leases of those who refuse to pay. The specific penalty amounts have not yet been determined.

Préville says the human cost is being overlooked. People who have managed to lift themselves out of precarity through cooperative living could be forced out if their incomes rise, only to face a private market where a comparable unit can cost two or three times more. "We risk impoverishing households that had succeeded in getting back on their feet," he said.

The FHCQ is not alone in making that case. The Confédération québécoise des coopératives d'habitation, the CQCH, has conducted its own parallel mobilization, submitting a formal brief to the National Assembly and coordinating with its network of regional federations, including FIHAB, the Fédération intercoopérative en habitation de l'Outaouais. FIHAB represents more than 30 housing co-operatives in the region and has been part of the province-wide coordinated response to the bill.

The local stakes are concrete. The Coopérative de la Cité-des-Outaouais, a planned 108-unit development on Boulevard Saint-Joseph in Gatineau, is one of only five developer co-operatives in the entire CQCH network. Founders who spend years building a co-operative from scratch would, under Bill 20, have no say in who lives there when the doors finally open. Without a membership invested in the project from day one, new co-operatives could run into trouble almost immediately, forced to hire outside help before they have even found their footing.

A formal petition calling for the withdrawal of Chapter 1 has collected nearly 14,000 signatures on the National Assembly's own website. Initiated by the FHCQ in partnership with Québec solidaire, the petition closes May 11, after which the federation plans an official tabling at the National Assembly.

Préville says the cooperative way of life is worth defending beyond the housing numbers. In a difficult economic climate, co-operatives allow people to maintain purchasing power and live in supportive communities. They are places where people learn to vote, make collective decisions, and take genuine responsibility for their shared environment, offering particular value for seniors and people with disabilities who need stable, community-centred housing. "These are living environments that are useful, both socially and economically," Préville said. "We need to not only protect them but develop more of them."

Quebec's new premier, Christine Fréchette, previously served as Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, the portfolio under which Quebec's co-operative sector falls. Préville says he is holding out hope that her familiarity with the file means something at the cabinet table. The new housing minister, Karine Boivin Roy, worked alongside co-operatives, non-profits, and social housing organizations during her years as a Montreal city councillor. "We hope to obtain significant amendments to the bill that respect the particular character of cooperatives," Préville said.

The government has roughly five weeks before the summer recess to push through its legislative agenda ahead of the October provincial election. For Quebec's cooperative housing sector, that clock is the final pressure point. The petition closes May 11. The session ends in June. And a model that has housed tens of thousands of Quebecers for decades could be changed beyond recognition before summer.