Quebecer speaks out against housing discrimination

Charles Grogan has moved between experiencing homelessness and living in low-income housing since March 2023, following unemployment due to a work-related accident. 

Grogan has been living in a motel in Saint-Eustache, north of Montreal, through Quebec’s Non-Profit Housing Program – known as the HLM. But in the search to find a long-term home amid the housing crisis in the province, he says he’s often discriminated against, claiming landlords refuse him based on his circumstances.

“I only ever had one person make the attempt to call the HLM office but [the HLM] never called them back,” Grogan said.

Prior to losing his job and landing in low-income housing, Grogan worked as a truck driver and mechanic.

“I had to change a tire and whatever I did I just flipped along and I felt something pinch,” he explained. “I had a huge, huge herniated disc […] it was touching every single nerve it could possibly touch.”

Unable to find work due to his medical condition and forced to leave his home, Grogan said he moved in with his girlfriend in the summer of 2022 but by 2023, he was living on the streets.

“I wound up going to Maison Oxygene in Saint Jerome. They kept me in for about five months,” Grogan told CityNews.

He was placed at a motel in his current temporary housing in Saint-Eustache in March 2024.

“Starting on the 62nd day I had to start paying a portion per week and that was about $100 a week that I had to pay to stay. That’s kind of costly,” he said.

Despite applying and qualifying for Quebec’s non-profit housing program – which provides subsidies such that tenants can pay rent corresponding to 25% of their income – Grogan says he’s had to fight for landlords to give him the time of day.

“I have to be completely transparent with them so I explain the situation. […] Pretty soon I’m not going to be able to stay here forever and I’m going to wind up being in my car again and I really don’t want to have to spend another winter in my car,” he said.

According to lawyer David Searle, who specializes in housing law, “the fact that one has low income can make it legal for a landlord to refuse an apartment if that low income makes it impossible for them to rent. 

“But if they’re being refused strictly on the basis that it’s you know that the landlord doesn’t want to have to have a low income person but that person can actually pay thanks to their subsidies well that’s illegal,” Searle explained.

As Grogan continues his search, he says it’s his daughter and the hope that he’ll soon be reunited with his 10-year-old son full-time, which keeps him going each day.

“He cries a lot when he’s away from me. He says how much he misses me. I call him every night. You know we get to talk for maybe five or ten minutes every night just before he goes to bed so he can know that I’m still okay. […] They’re everything for me.”