The Office régional d'habitation de Vaudreuil-Soulanges (ORHVS) has had to redo its financial statements for the last nine years to include the $0.25 from washing machines. This situation was strongly condemned by the elected representatives of the MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges at the council meeting held on Wednesday January 24.

In a resolution adopted unanimously, the mayors of the MRC demanded that the Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ) provide the administrative support necessary for the proper management of the Offices d'habitation du Québec.

Since the creation of the ORHVS, there have been significant delays in the processing of financial statements by the SHQ. What's more, these delays have resulted in a significant deficit in the regional organization's finances. 

"Ms Charest (editor's note: Manon Charest, ORHVS General Manager) had to submit her budget five times. ORHVS had to redo its financial statements several times, going back to 2015 because the SHQ wanted ORHVS to count the $0.25 under washing machines," explained MRC Assistant General Manager Simon Bellemare.

Needless to say, such micromanagement comes with a significant administrative cost.

"We are therefore asking the SHQ to provide the necessary administrative support and to review its efficiency targets," added Mr. Bellemare.

According to the resolution, the ORHVS would have "submitted its budget request and amendments five times in 2023, without obtaining any acknowledgement of receipt, and ultimately did not obtain the budgets required to carry out its basic mandate".

In addition, a significant delay in the completion of renovation projects for buildings in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, and "a shortfall in cash flow for the year 2024" result from the fact that the service center linked to the ORHVS has not submitted 50% of the ORHVS's requests to the SHQ.

In addition to management issues, the elected representatives of the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC deplore the mechanisms put in place for adopting budgets.

"The problem is that ORHVS budgets are approved in December of the current year. So the 2023 budget was approved on December 1, 2023. Municipalities, on the other hand, are obliged to adopt their budgets in the last week of November preceding the financial year. In the end, the SHQ adopts the ORH's budgets 1 year and 1 month after the MRC adopts its budget," explains the Assistant General Manager, adding that this puts pressure on the management of the office during the 12 months of the year, and creates a significant budgetary gap for the MRCs.

"Since the creation of the ORHVS, these requests have come up again and again, and we always end up with the same result. We're not the only RCM. These are the same recriminations we hear when we go to RCM councils. The whole province is going through the same thing. Discussions were held with the Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau. She said she'd look into it, but it's always the same thing," explained Patrick Bousez, MRC prefect and mayor of Rivière-Beaudette.

Finally, in the resolution adopted on Wednesday, the MRC's elected representatives are calling on the SHQ to stop micromanaging and redirect its energies towards achieving the objectives of managing and building social and affordable housing.

The MRC is also asking the SHQ to set efficiency targets to meet the demands of municipal offices, to review the service center model or to set efficiency targets for them too, and to respect the budget approval schedule of municipalities and MRCs.

The resolution, which will be forwarded to the Regroupement des offices d'habitation du Québec, all the province's MRCs, as well as the Ministers of Housing and Municipal Affairs, France-Élaine Duranceau and Andrée Laforest, and the MNAs for Vaudreuil and Soulanges, Marie-Claude Nichols and Marilyne Picard.