After Quebec and Neuville, it is the turn of the borough of Lachine, in Montreal, to welcome a cohousing project. This concept based on community life and sharing allows households to become owners or tenants of housing at a lower cost. As of June 14, potential buyers of the 44 units offered by the NPO Village Urbain will be able to submit their application.
Cohousing is a concept born in Denmark 60 years ago. Since then, he has had babies in several European cities. In Quebec, projects are still rare. A first project, Cohabitat Québec, took shape in the national capital in 2013, and a second was launched more recently in Neuville.
General manager and co-founder of Urban Village, Estelle Le Roux Joky started working on the project in 2020 with Pascal Huynh. Last summer, the organization was able to get its hands on a piece of land on rue Notre-Dame, near Vieux-Lachine, previously occupied by a glass factory. Work for the construction of the new three- to four-storey building is expected to begin in late summer for an inauguration at the end of 2024.
The Urban Village project will include 58 one- to four-bedroom units, of which 44 will be sold and 14 will be rented. What sets the project apart is the emphasis that will be placed on community life and the pooling of resources. “The space and the social organization are designed to facilitate encounters. In many homes today, everything is done so that we do not cross paths with our neighbours. There, it’s the opposite, ”explains Estelle Le Roux Joky in an interview.
And the apartments will be sold at cost, which means that they will be more affordable than the usual condos. “We want to be cheaper than the market, but honestly, it’s very difficult in the current context, with construction costs and interest rates. But we are still under the price of electricity for new housing of this quality, ”says Mme Le Roux Joky, who was unable to specify the starting prices that will be offered.
Urban Village also intends to impose a limit on the resale price in order to maintain housing at a price below the market in the future.
A little-known concept
The surface area of the apartments will also be smaller than that of ordinary apartments, but the building will have common areas for all residents, including a kitchen, a multipurpose room and a workshop. “It’s a slightly more ecological way of living, not to mention all the economies of scale and the sharing of equipment,” points out Estelle Le Roux Joky.
Urban Village will be able to begin receiving applications from potential buyers as of June 14. The organization intends to select future residents based on their motivation to live in cohousing by taking on certain tasks and encouraging sharing, whether it is their car or tools. It also intends to favor social diversity and will take into account in its criteria the difficulty for certain households to find housing.
Estelle Le Roux Joky regrets, however, that the concept is still too little known. “We are considered a classic private project, even being an NPO, and we did not get any help [financière] of the city,” she said. However, the organization hopes that the project will be able to qualify for funding from the Program for an Affordable Metropolis.
“I believe that cohousing responds to a need of many people to find a little more meaning at all levels – social, environmental or economic – in their way of life. I hope that the municipalities will facilitate the development of this type of project in the future. »
Responsible for housing on the City’s Executive Committee, Benoit Dorais welcomed the arrival of this “innovative project”. “We worked closely with the organization to support it during the various stages, and analyzes are underway regarding its registration in the Program for an affordable metropolis,” he said in a statement sent to the Duty.