Housing shortage housing in exchange for sexual services

Housing shortage: housing in exchange for sexual services

With crushing inflation and an unprecedented housing crisis, organizations fear an increase in vulnerable people who have to accept gestures of a sexual nature in exchange for lower rent costs to avoid being caught on the street.

“In the classifieds we see that there are people who are not even afraid to offer a room in exchange for relationships anymore. [sexuelles] the crisis is so strong,” says Marjolaine Deneault of the Regrouping of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ).

In her opinion, the phenomenon is not new. The journal also dealt with this topic in 2018. However, the shortage of housing and the increasingly tight budgets of precarious households favor this phenomenon, which is similar to forced prostitution.

“This problem exists and continues to exist because there are tenants who have no other options, Ms Deneault regrets. There are people who would rather endure it than end up on the street.

  • Listen to the interview with Cédric Dussault from RCLALQ in the program by Philippe-Vincent Foisy, broadcast live daily on QUB radio :

The Journal has also seen this on sites like Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace.

We ran two fake ads for a college student and a nursing student. Each of them, christened Ludivine and Thomas, say they are seriously looking for a room to rent in the greater Montreal area for the maximum sum of $700 per month.

A fake Journal ad in which a young woman named Ludivine claims to be looking for a $700-a-month apartment.

Screenshot from the Kijiji website

A fake Journal ad in which a young woman named Ludivine claims to be looking for a $700-a-month apartment.

A false ad created by the Journal in which a young man named Thomas claims he is looking for a $700-a-month apartment.

Screenshot from the Kijiji website

A false ad created by the Journal in which a young man named Thomas claims he is looking for a $700-a-month apartment.

In less than a day, they received more than a dozen messages from older men offering them a bed in exchange for explicit or implicit sexual services. In all cases the accommodation was rented out at a fraction of the price or offered for free.

Example of classified ads leading to a sex rental offer on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji.

Screenshot of Kijiji

Example of classified ads leading to a sex rental offer on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji.

“That’s not possible anyway, because you can’t live here if you’re not a nudist,” says Daniel on the phone. This forty-year-old from the North Shore even offered Thomas a free roof if he would agree to sleep with him in his little three-and-a-half.

  • Listen to the “Crime and Society” column with Félix Séguin, journalist at the Quebecor Bureau of Investigation, on Richard Martineau’s microphone QUB radio :

The offers to Ludivine were initially serious. On the other hand, things went wrong on the phone or in emails with the men who offered rooms for rent in their apartment.

E-mail responses from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

Screenshot from Gmail

E-mail responses from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

“We might both be single, but I wouldn’t tell you to come over tonight. Don’t worry, I won’t jump at you and I won’t rape you if that scares you,” Maxime guaranteed over the phone.

Email replies from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

Screenshot from Gmail

Email replies from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

The latter had just offered Ludivine to sleep in the same bed with him for $300 a month since the property only has one bedroom.

Marc, an engineer who has no tongue in his pocket, directly suggested that the student pay him everything.

Email replies from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

Screenshot from Gmail

Email replies from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

“I wanted to do a Sugar Daddy report offering to pay for your housing. Because I don’t have an apartment… With all due respect,” he offers in one of the emails to the young woman.

The Journal also found several classified ads offering a “female-only” or “male-only” room. On three occasions the advertiser offered us a rent reduction in exchange for sexual favors.

Example of classified ads leading to a sex rental offer on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji.

Screenshot from Facebook

Example of classified ads leading to a sex rental offer on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji.

E-mail responses from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

Screenshot of Kijiji

E-mail responses from advertisers offering a room to Ludivine or Thomas.

Classifieds - Kijiji / Facebook Marketplace

Screenshot of Kijiji

The Montreal Women’s Education and Action Center (CÉAF) denounces that landlords or renters take advantage of vulnerable people in Quebec.

“It doesn’t look like you would see that in a rich society like ours. I think people also need to understand that no woman in our society is immune to this situation. We see it in our polls, they come from all walks of life,” explains Julie Leblanc, Community Organizer at CÉAF.

But are there any solutions to put an end to this type of illegal trade?

“We need more publicly funded social housing for people on low incomes. But the government of François Legault has cut the AccèsLogis program for this purpose and it is a historical drama,” says Ms Leblanc.

According to the platform, the median price of a one-bedroom apartment in Montreal exceeded $1,500 in July 2022 Rentals.approx

  • Listen to the Martineau-Dutrizac meeting with Richard Martineau on the mic with Benoit Dutrizac QUB radio :

The Montreal Women’s Education and Action Center (CEAF) confirms that the sex-for-rent phenomenon is growing as they have never seen so many precarious people knocking on their doors.

“I know there is more to this situation than that. We really are on very fertile ground to experience this kind of sexual abuse. […] In nine years of work in the community, the economic situation of vulnerable women is unprecedented. This is unprecedented for us,” says Julie Leblanc, Community Organizer at CÉAF.

From 2013 to 2021, a committee of his organization examined in particular the sexual violence experienced by tenants and flatmates. Unfortunately, the pandemic has put an end to this program.

“What we noticed is that she’s reluctantly accepting a relationship in exchange for cheaper housing,” explains Ms. Leblanc. They don’t do it voluntarily when they do this. For us, there is a trivialization of power relations and a trivialization of violence against women on this topic.

The CÉAF has agreed to share with Le Journal the testimonies of women who have suffered sexual violence in cheap housing.

So did Anna, who was living in a housing association, when she experienced one of the worst evenings of her life.

The chairman of her co-op gave her an appointment at his home to find out if she was eligible for a subsidy that would allow her to pay less rent.

“I wanted the scholarship. I didn’t think he would go there. I felt like a trapped mouse, dizzy and scared. He abused me. He took pictures of me naked… I don’t remember the end, maybe I don’t want to remember,” she said.

“I’m ashamed, it’s like I prostituted myself. i sold my body i feel dirty I’m trying to forget to take control of my life again,” she continues.

Anna says she is now trying to move out of her co-op. She constantly fears that her photos will be published on the Internet.

WHAT YOU SAID:

Julie Leblanc, Community Organizer at CÉAF

Photo CEAF

Julie Leblanc, Community Organizer at CÉAF

“In this situation there will be even more. The cost of housing has become so inaccessible to many people and malicious landlords will take advantage of that.”

– Julie Leblanc, CÉAF

“He abused me. He took pictures of me naked… I don’t remember the end, maybe I don’t want to remember.

– Anna, victim of the president of her housing association

Marjolaine Deneault, spokeswoman for the Regrouping of Housing Committees and Tenant Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ)

Photo from the LinkedIn website

Marjolaine Deneault, spokeswoman for the Regrouping of Housing Committees and Tenant Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ)

“In a multi-apartment context, the person might turn down the offer of the landlord offering sexual services. But in a context of scarcity, the person may not have a choice.

– Marjolaine Deneault, RCLALQ

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