For many, construction sites are above all a means of collecting wads of cash. But for the administrators of the non-profit Village Urbain, which leads a co-housing project in Lachine, the priorities are rather the weaving of a social bond and affordability.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Co-housing is residential complexes where each household has its own private, autonomous but minimalist accommodation, while enjoying a range of managed and shared resources: collective kitchen, common guest rooms, vegetable garden or shared car… While remaining in the vein of cooperatives, the project is subtly different from them by the fact that it welcomes mainly owners, and this, in affordable housing, without constituting social housing. Also, cohousing pushes further the scope and involvement in the management of common spaces.
Seduced by this concept, which can be found all over the world, Estelle Le Roux and Pascal Huynh, co-founders of Village Urbain, were surprised not to see it flourish more in Quebec. There is certainly Cohabitat Québec, a project in the same spirit born after a long way of the cross, as well as various more or less successful citizen initiatives, but which lack a solid professional structure.
“We realized that a lot of people are interested, but for a group of citizens, it’s not easy to carry out, because it’s still a real estate project: it’s complex, long, it requires skills and significant capital,” explains Estelle Le Roux, who works in real estate finance. “We wondered how we could professionalize certain aspects of cohousing,” she continues. The NPO thus relieves the aspiring residents of the heaviest burdens, such as the search for the land, the financing or the basic design, before leaving them the reins for the choice of common spaces and the management of the living environment, in which they will be called upon to become actively involved.
The number 1 objective is to create a link between people. By sharing spaces and resources, this creates opportunities for encounters. This way of life, more affordable and ecological, seduces people attracted by a more community life.
Estelle Le Roux, co-founder and general manager of Village Urbain
After having dissected with McGill University what has made the success of cohousing abroad, Village Urbain will formulate suggestions for sure values, such as a collective kitchen — an ingredient that is obviously always a winner. Mme Le Roux also mentions shared office spaces, potentially relevant in times of teleworking, rooms for guests to book, or even a workshop. “We could offer one or two electric cars to share. And, as the edge of the water is not far, why not kayaks? “, she says.
The affordability challenge
ILLUSTRATION SID LEE ARCHITECTURE, PROVIDED BY VILLAGE URBAIN
Illustration of what an urban village type project might look like
Unlike Cohabitat Québec, for which a group of residents had formed even before land was designated (many left the boat before the laboriously long but ultimately successful launch), Village Urbain wants to ensure that the project is set in stone before recruiting residents. Something not yet done, but on the right track: the purchase offer for land in Lachine has just been accepted and should become official in June. Off-plan sales could then be organized from the end of 2022, and construction could start at the beginning of 2023. Some forty apartments, mainly with two or three bedrooms, are planned to attract families and young retirees.
Another distinction compared to the Quebec project, a place will be made for tenants, and prices will not be tied to those, swirling, of the market. “It’s not social housing, but the project wants to be affordable, we want to get out of real estate speculation. In a context of sharply rising land prices and construction costs, it’s a real challenge, we try to find a compromise,” notes the co-founder.
Isn’t the NPO afraid of having to turn into the police to enforce the rules of community life? He hopes to guarantee harmony, particularly upstream, thanks to a rigorous selection of candidates, and clear explanations of their commitments and implications.
Site management is also a big challenge. We will equip people to deal with potential disagreements, offer workshops on governance, non-violent communication, in order to build a structure to avoid conflicts.
Estelle Le Roux, co-founder and general manager of Village Urbain
A first public information session is scheduled for mid-March, followed by the organization of a discussion group (focus group) in April.
Alongside the Lachine residential complex, and even if these projects are less advanced, Village Urbain is eyeing Ahuntsic and Laval for similar residential spaces.
More popular, but marginal
PHOTO PROVIDED BY GUILLAUME LESSARD
Guillaume Lessard, doctor in urban studies at the University of Waterloo
A winning formula? For Guillaume Lessard, doctor in urban studies at the University of Waterloo, this cohousing formula is in line with cooperatives, for which many examples of success have existed in Quebec for more than a century. Several owner cooperative projects have also emerged in recent years, for example Havre des Pins, in the Eastern Townships.
“These types of projects will become more and more popular,” he said. With the real estate crisis, the speculative bubble that has been inflating for 20 years and has never burst in Canada, this is one of the only solutions, for many people, to become owners in an affordable way. »
In his eyes, this is indeed an effective way to create social ties through the sharing of tasks and the selection of members – provided that the development of the project does not get bogged down in a crisis. Initiatives of this type would multiply, but would still remain marginal in proportion to the current modes of habitat.
“The whole system, regulations, public funding, builders and developers favor single-family homes and condo towers, which will remain the norm in the coming years. But the fact that there are cooperatives or other forms shows that there is a search for alternative options and that this model works,” believes Guillaume Lessard.