While it is difficult for many people to find shelter this winter, thousands of buildings in Quebec are deserted: churches. Imagine if we could transform these huge stone buildings into housing! The problem is that our churches are pitiful! The majority of them are in very poor condition.
There are many churches in Quebec, because the Catholic religion was once very present there. But today, religion is not as big a place, and churches are much less crowded. Some are completely abandoned. And you must imagine that these buildings are not getting any younger! Leaking roofs, heating, maintenance: the list of repairs is long and so is the bill!
Churches in Quebec in figures:
For Luc Noppen, a specialist in Quebec churches, they could be useful for creating housing. “In 2002, we suggested that at least 20,000 social housing units could be built by recovering churches,” he explains.
But for this to happen, it takes a lot of money. Problem: the Quebec Religious Heritage Council, an organization that deals with the transformation of churches, lacks money!
Several citizens are finding solutions to bring churches back to life. Are you wondering what we can transform a church into? Why not in a circus? This is the case of the Saint-Charles church in Limoilou, where for three years, acrobats have been presenting shows. And in the music studio? Already done ! Quebec musician and director Pilou now has his creative studios in two churches in Saint-Adrien, in Estrie. Several churches are also transformed into shelters and welcome people experiencing homelessness, such as the basement of the Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Rosaire church in Montreal.
The secret to carrying out these projects is often to sell certain churches for a very small amount: 1 dollar! Talk about a good deal! This way, we prevent them from being abandoned or destroyed, and we give them a new use!
Florence Champagne-Hamel, intern journalist at Ace of informationaccording to an article by Jean-François Nadeau
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