“Problem”, even “scandal”: The choice of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) to invest in mobile home parks in the United States is raising concerns, with some suggesting that the “nest egg” of Quebecers is participating. Growing housing finance.
Caisse de dépôt jumped into the US mobile home market in 2018 and today co-owns 72 parks in 19 states with Australian group Macquarie.
there CDPQ It has handed over the management of these parks to a partner American company RHP characteristicsAs evidenced by a Radio-Canada investigation, Who’s Doing Things has come under fire from residents and experts alike.
Many people live in managed communities RHP characteristics reported experiencing financial pressure, threats of eviction or feeling harassed.
A public company worries me [la Caisse] Mobile home parks are starting to generate good financial returns on the backs of the poor in American society. is questionable
In response to a Radio-Canada inquiry, Andrés Fontecilla, spokesman for Quebec Solidaire, began by house and residence.
America’s mobile home parks have a high percentage of seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, or low-income families. These communities have been seen as a great source of passive income by the increasingly large investors in the sector over the past ten years.
Today, nearly 30% of these communities are owned by a major investor in the United States.
In a Radio-Canada investigation, The CDPQ It justified its involvement in mobile home parks as an investment Ethics
And one way Contribute to housing comfort
. However, Andrés Fontesilla was not convinced by these claims.
These are just empty words when it comes to us.
He condemns the fact that the Caisse associates itself with a company that does not hesitate to quickly increase rents, a direct result of the impoverishment of low-income families. Everything we rent, we don’t keep elsewhere, clothes, medicine, food…
Mr. According to Fontecilla, the agency should set a precedent, even if it is beyond the law of many US states that have little or no control over rent increases.
Véronique Laflamme, spokeswoman for the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU), also worries about the vulnerability of many people living in mobile homes in the United States.
The scandalous thing is that we say we are helping to protect affordable housing, but these people are prisoners of their non-property land and rents are rising disproportionately.
She laments.
In reality, these parks are based on the model of residents owning their homes, but not the land on which they are located. Today, these homes often serve a purpose in name only: it costs between US$5,000 and US$15,000 to convert a house, an amount unthinkable to many who live there.
When asked to respond to the Radio-Canada report, the office of the minister responsible for housing, France-Elaine Duranceau, declined to comment.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec presented its investment as a way to “contribute to access to housing.” (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Ivano Demers
Increasing integration
In 2022, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec implemented a sustainable investment policy through which it intends to achieve ambitious environmental, social and governance objectives. For Jean-Talon, PQ MP for Pascal Paradis, this policy is one more reason for the company to further question the practices of its partners.
If it is proven that the companies in the mobile home sector in which the Caisse has invested are contributing to a sharp increase in the rents of vulnerable people and an increase in the housing crisis, can the Caisse exercise its rights to the investor to stabilize those rents? Is the increase justified? Is it a more sustainable and socially acceptable investment in its principle sense?
asks Mr. Paradis.
The Caisse’s participation in what many see as the growing consolidation of the real estate sector raises concerns. Why is the Caisse deciding to participate in the housing finance process, rather than helping to build a resilient affordable housing sector here in America?
asks Member of Parliament Andres Fontacilla.
Liberal MP Virginie Dufour is also concerned about market consolidation, but notes that even in Quebec, fewer and fewer people are willing to invest in such mobile home parks. In his riding of Mille-Îles in Laval, he says, there has been a lot of pressure recently to demolish such a park to make way for an industrial district.
In a market he says is unfavorable to small owners, financing is an even more present risk, he says. Adults have the ability to deal with crises. […] We need to create an environment that encourages small investments
A spokesman for the official opposition to housing notes.
For the Caisse de dépôt, a large part of the solution to access to housing involves increasing supply. units, part of it in affordable and social housing”,”text”:”For example, in Quebec, we’re in projects like Halico, which will be delivered this summer, which will have 367 units, part of it in affordable and social housing “}}”>For example, in Quebec, we have projects like Halico, which will be delivered this summer, which will have 367 units, part of which will be affordable and social housing.
spokeswoman Kate Monfette pointed out via email CDPQAs part of a Radio-Canada investigation.
But Andrés Fontecilla and Véronique Laflamme want the company to go even further, specifically by building off-market homes in Quebec that will protect them from real estate speculation.
For Véronique Laflamme of FRAPRU, the Caisse’s investment in mobile home parks in the United States and the questions raised by the housing crisis that has rocked this country should make us aware of the role pension funds play in the housing crisis.
If we are to avoid a societal crisis of this magnitude, we must act now. We cannot turn a blind eye to how pension fund income is generated
she says.
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