The Quebec City Association of Military Spouses is asking people to sign a petition to save off-base housing for soldiers based at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, which is just north of the city.

The base owns 140 housing units for soldiers and their families in the popular Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of Quebec City.

If the minister of national defence approves plans for a new drill hall, 42 of the 140 units will be torn down over the next few years, said Capt. Evelyne Lemire of CFB Valcartier on Thursday.

She said the new hall is necessary because army reservists need a larger building to train in. The drill hall would be built on prime real estate in Sainte-Foy, close to Université Laval, highway access and a row of popular shopping centres.

Eventually, the Defence Department hopes to progressively sell off all the land to private interests as military families move away, Lemire said.

Hélène Gagnon is one of the founders of the Association of Military Spouses, which will be circulating a petition opposing the housing change among residents in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood this weekend.

Gagnon thinks the Department of National Defence sees a financial advantage to moving the housing back to the base.

"I have personally been told that this area is really, really … [sought after] by eventual buyers," she said. "I've been told also by someone in the army that, eventually, they'll be selling all this because ... there's not enough money made out of it [as military housing] … [as] could have been made by just selling it."

Gagnon says she would not have been able to work if she'd had to live on the base because she didn't drive at the time she moved to the region.

She said some families like living on base while others prefer the convenience of being close to city services.

She said she would like the army to at least consult the families, instead of just imposing a decision on them.

Cpl. Charles Poiré has lived both on the base and in Sainte-Foy. Poiré says he likes living in a civilian community because he's more at ease knowing he won't bump into superiors when his uniform isn't perfect.