Habiter chez soi opens in Gatineau, adding 134 affordable homes to a strained rental market

Tashi Farmilo

Habiter chez soi, an eight-storey building with 134 affordable apartments in Gatineau's east end, was officially inaugurated on June 23 by federal, provincial and municipal representatives, several months after its first tenants moved in.

Affordability has strained renters in the Outaouais for years, with vacancies hovering near zero through stretches of the recent crisis and the local housing office fielding rising calls for help. The pressure peaked in 2025, when rent growth for two-bedroom purpose-built apartments in the Gatineau area nearly doubled from the year before and the provincial housing tribunal recommended a record 5.9 per cent increase. It has since eased at the margins. In January 2026 the Tribunal administratif du logement adopted a new formula tied to average inflation over the previous three years and lowered its basic recommendation to 3.1 per cent, while a wave of new construction lifted vacancies and cooled rent growth. That relief, though, has been concentrated in newer, higher-priced units, many of which sat empty, while older and family-sized rentals stayed tight. CMHC reported that affordability for existing tenants across most major markets worsened in early 2026, and average rents in Gatineau remain among the highest in Quebec.

The building at 295 Saint-René East Boulevard was developed by Logir Outaouais and built by general contractor Boless Inc. Logir is the real estate arm of the Office d'habitation de l'Outaouais, set up as an innovative development vehicle to expand the agency's capacity to put roofs over the heads of modest-income residents. Its president, Jean Pigeon, likes to remind audiences that the name is also a verb, short form for the work of finding and building homes. Tenants began moving in on March 1.

Quebec Housing Minister Karine Boivin Roy, represented at the event by Mathieu Lévesque, junior minister for the regions and the MNA for Chapleau, said in a statement that the result reflected what partners could build together. "This building is aptly named: Living at Home. 134 low- and moderate-income households can now live in their own homes, in a quality, safe, and affordable living environment," she said.

The building cost about $50.6 million, with the Quebec and federal governments contributing more than $19 million each through the Canada-Quebec agreement under the Housing Accelerator Fund, alongside $7.7 million from the City of Gatineau and a $3.6 million patient capital loan from the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Of the 134 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, 99 are subsidized for households on the Office d'habitation's low-rent waiting list, with rent geared to income, while the rest carry fixed affordable rents. Tenants who qualify for the Quebec rent supplement program pay no more than 25 per cent of their income toward rent.

That financing model drew praise from the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ, whose chief executive, Martin Raymond, was represented by Arnaud Duchêne. Raymond had sent a statement that the project showed "that by relying on strong partnerships and innovative financing arrangements, it is possible to accelerate the delivery of housing that meets the real needs of households in the Outaouais region."

Steven MacKinnon, the MP for Gatineau and federal Minister of Transport, cast the opening as evidence that Ottawa's plans are reaching the ground. "Today, we are inaugurating 134 new affordable housing units that will offer families a stable and secure place to look to the future with confidence," he said, pointing to the new Build Canada Homes agency as part of an effort to double the pace of residential construction. The federal Housing Accelerator Fund, launched in 2023, is meant to fast-track at least 100,000 homes nationwide, while the Canada-Quebec agreement and matching provincial investments target roughly 8,000 social and affordable units province-wide. Locally, Logir and the Office d'habitation have delivered close to 400 subsidized and affordable units in recent months, including the 199-unit Champlain complex, the largest building in Logir's history, inaugurated in late March.

Deputy mayor Isabelle Miron, who before entering politics, had spent a decade working in shelters for women fleeing violence, delivered remarks on the mayor’s behalf, calling the announcement fresh proof that a decent, affordable home "is not, and should never be, a luxury," and pointed to the city's goal of devoting 20 per cent of housing to off-market units.

Pigeon closed the event by turning from the financing to the people receiving the keys, noting that most of the units are going to households drawn straight from the low-rent waiting list. "Behind each of these doors,” he said, “there will be a family, a person living alone, a senior, a household counting on a quality home. In the current climate, that is far from trivial."