Social Housing – A Key Component of Social Policies in Transformation: The Quebec Experience

This paper is a revised version of a presentation to the Symposium on Affordable Housing Policy organized by the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association. The paper reports on a number of innovative practices in the social housing field in Quebec over the last ten years. The context of these new approaches is the transformation of social policy occurring in Quebec and in Canada. The new practices highlight the importance of Quebec’s social movements and third-sector actors in the development of effective solutions. The policies and practices help situate social housing as an essential component of a cohesive and integrated social policy. The paper has five main sections: an outline of theoretical positions on social policy in transformation; a division of social housing policy in Quebec into developmental phases, comparing these to periods of intervention by the federal government; a review of social housing policies and programs now in effect in Quebec; an examination of new approaches and practices; and a discussion of the major challenges facing social housing.

ISBN – 1-894598-85-7