You must pay the rent...

Good money managers will tell you that you shouldn't spend more than 25 to 30 per cent of your monthly income--about one week's pay--on rent. The more you pay to put a roof over your head, the less you have to feed, clothe and entertain yourself.

Recent statistics in the Dossier Noir, compiled by the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), a Quebec-based housing rights organization, show that more and more households in Quebec--a total of 273,825 to be exact--paid over half their monthly income in rent in 1996. That figure is up from 194,225 in 1991.

A closer look at those 273,825 households: 27 per cent of them are single-parent families, while 30 per cent live alone. In terms of age, 36 per cent are under age 25, while 27 per cent are over age 55. In all, 86,050 are located in the city of Montreal.

Why the increase? The Dossier Noir cites a number of factors, including cutbacks to welfare and unemployment insurance and the increase in the number of people living alone. In keeping with their mission, however, FRAPRU blames the lack of social housing: for the period 1990-94, the government funded 2,592 new social housing units, while for the period 1995-98, they funded only 950 new units.

-Philip Preville