The draft urban planning and mobility plan (PUM 2050) presented by the City of Montreal last June is part of a very specific context. A context marked by a continuing housing crisis, by an economic situation which increases the challenge of affordability, as well as by increasingly frequent extreme weather events which forcefully demonstrate the climate emergency.
This plan, once adopted, will constitute the backbone of Montreal’s development for the next 25 years. A legacy for future generations. You should definitely not miss this meeting. This is why PUM 2050 must respond to today’s challenges and anticipate those of tomorrow.
Currently, the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) is hearing and collecting the opinions of groups who wish to express themselves on this important document. With these opinions, the OCPM will send its report to the City so that our elected officials can use its recommendations to improve the initial version of PUM 2050. A very important exercise. The challenges are fundamental, the expectations very high.
The Urban Development Institute of Quebec (IDU) wished, during these consultations, to make its contribution by presenting the perspective of the main players in real estate development, namely promoters, developers and private investors, those who build more than 95% of housing each year.
Paradoxically, there is an urgent lack of new housing to get out of the crisis, and yet, in recent years, it has been increasingly difficult to quickly raise projects. The number of construction starts fell sharply, going from 13,204 in 2021 to 9,427 in 2022, to 7,003 in 2023 and to 3,266 for the first nine months of 2024. At the same time, the deadlines for obtaining permits, , exploded.
In fact, since 2020, the average time for permit applications for projects of 100 housing units or more has increased from 269 days to 506 days. At a minimum, the PUM should contain measures to reverse this trend by promoting the construction of all types of housing (rental and co-ownership, social and affordable, market and non-market).
Our findings
Drawing on the expertise and experience of the members of its town planning and mobility committee as well as its legal circle, the IDU carried out a rigorous analysis of the PUM in order to identify a certain number of findings, to propose possible solutions and to formulate recommendations for the steps leading to its adoption and implementation.
From the outset, we must welcome the intention expressed by the City to focus more on densification if we want to emerge from the various crises in a sustainable manner. However, the fundamental question that must be asked is the following: does, in its current form, the City of Montreal’s PUM project adequately respond to today’s challenges while proposing a solid roadmap for those of tomorrow? At this time, the IDU believes the answer is no.
In its current form, the PUM 2050 project lacks clarity and predictability. Indeed, it essentially relies on qualitative criteria, which would leave a lot of room for interpretation and arbitrariness. What’s more, it is not very explicit on the next steps, before and after its adoption, in particular on transitional mechanisms, on compliance and on concordance in the districts.
Finally, he is hardly more talkative about the planned connection, although essential, with the future Metropolitan Planning and Development Plan (PMAD) of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM), with which it will ultimately have to comply. It would also be incongruous for the PUM to be adopted before the implementation of the PMAD. In short, it raises many more questions than it answers.
Barrier to development
The thick fog caused by the addition of these elements, which prevents seeing clearly and planning what happens next for promoters, developers and real estate investors, who need predictability to plan their project in the short, medium and long term , creates uncertainty.
In fact, this lack of predictability constitutes a brake on development and risks reducing the attractiveness of the metropolis for new investments. The situation is all the more worrying as it could extend over several months or even years. All this in the middle of the housing crisis.
This is why the IDU wishes to make its contribution to the OCPM, so that the final version of the PUM helps to dissipate this fog. To adequately respond to today’s challenges while proposing a solid roadmap for tomorrow’s stakeholders, this new plan must prioritize:
- provide predictability on standards and approval processes in order to better plan project development;
- reduce deadlines for requests and authorizations to enable construction to take place more quickly;
- take into account the significant impacts of various fees and other regulatory constraints on project costs, and therefore on affordability, by focusing more on incentive measures;
- encourage densification in TOD areas (Transit-Oriented Development) existing, then plan this densification around the planned public transport routes, in order to resolve housing crises and facilitate mobility;
- regulate the rules of conformity and concordance of the districts;
- plan now to link up with the future PMAD.
Without these components, the proposed exercise unfortunately risks further slowing down the deployment of projects, worsening the housing crisis and increasing its repercussions on Montreal households and on the attractiveness of Montreal.