Sixty thousand. This is the number of social and affordable housing units that Valérie Plante’s administration wants to build or “sustain” over the next 10 years in Montreal.
The politician promised it during her 2021 election campaign. She has repeated this target since the start of her second term.
The will is there, said and repeated.
But beyond the intentions, finally, the City will announce in a few weeks a concrete plan to accelerate the creation of new affordable housing, I learned.
Basically: it will strike an ax in the bureaucracy.
It will not be a luxury.
Because even today, the steps to be taken to build affordable housing are part of an obstacle course in the metropolis.
Several large promoters, who wish to integrate affordable housing into their real estate projects, confided to me their extreme frustration in the face of the complexity of the municipal apparatus. Some have already thrown in the towel; others are chomping at the bit cursing the gods of the civil service.
” The city spin in the butter and is stuck in the mud, “illustrated one of them.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Benoit Dorais, responsible for the housing file on the executive committee of the City of Montreal
Benoit Dorais, responsible for the housing file on the executive committee, is the first to recognize that the bureaucratic machine is far from being “facilitating” at present in the 19 boroughs of Montreal.
It’s the least we can say.
“There are 19 organizational cultures in the City, or thereabouts, there are certainly 19 urban planning regulations, and there is absolutely no common core,” he told me in an interview.
The result of this regulatory quilt? A dizzying ping-pong for housing builders, who are constantly tossed from one instance to another. Each month that passes adds additional costs to their projects and reduces their chances of seeing the light of day.
Concretely, this translates into a very slow pace of construction in affordable housing. And by waiting lists to which are added each month dozens of low-income families, collateral victims of Montreal’s bureaucratic heaviness.
Mayor Valérie Plante has made housing one of her priorities since her first run for mayor. His administration’s record so far has been mixed.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal
His promise to “build” 12,000 social and affordable housing units during his first term, between 2017 and 2021, is far from being fulfilled, reveals a recent survey by the Montreal Journal. Some numbers have been tweaked, and the actual number of new homes being delivered is far lower than what has been trumpeted.
Admittedly, however, the Plante administration seems determined to take the affordability bull by the horns this time around. Last June, it announced the “Chantier Montréal Affordable”, which aims to reach – really – the target of 60,000 housing units within 10 years.
The press release published in June contains several words that do not immediately smack of efficiency. Which are scary, even. It speaks of “thematic work sites”, of the need to be “agile”.
But the approach seems serious and several high-level players are working hand in hand with the City of Montreal.
The working group on housing is co-chaired by Roger Plamondon, president of the Broccolini Real Estate Group, which is currently building several imposing skyscrapers downtown. Edith Cyr, executive director of Bâtir son quartier, one of the most credible organizations in the construction of affordable housing, is the other leader, alongside Benoit Dorais.
The Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ, developer Prével and Société de développement Angus are also present at the table. The level is raised.
To speed up the pace, the Plante administration set up a “facilitator cell” – another disturbing term at first glance. Yet it is she who could hold the key to success.
In a few weeks, the City will announce the results of the work of this “cell”, which should result in a simplification of bureaucracy for promoters.
“What the facilitating cell aims to do is to say: when you have a good project and you want to see it happen, how can we be able to give ourselves the right conditions so that it doesn’t look like the house of crazy about Asterix? sums up Benoit Dorais.
The bar is high and discouraged promoters are eagerly awaiting the reduction in bureaucracy promised by the Plante administration. We will soon be able to judge whether it will be an ax blow, or rather a pruning blow.
The credibility of the rest of the exercise will depend on it.
Several other details are yet to be finalized. Of the 60,000 homes promised over the next 10 years, there will in fact be only a minority of new constructions. In the majority of cases, these will be affordable apartments that already exist, which will be “perpetuated” thanks to a set of strategies such as the acquisition of concierge services by the City’s real estate arm.
The definition of what constitutes “affordable” housing, which is often elastic, will also have to be clarified.
The other essential element of the equation will affect financing. Ottawa has spent billions on building affordable housing in recent years. Quebec, for its part, has created new programs aimed at supplementing AccèsLogis, which is effective but underfunded.
The problem is that several of these programs are incompatible with each other, or have different deadlines. The result: many affordable housing projects, already tied up, fail to get off the ground, for lack of a coherent financial package.
The new Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, tells me that “the‘money is there and [qu’]he will be there for good, well-crafted projects”. The discussions promise to be full-bodied with the City of Montreal and the other partners involved, who are far from agreeing with this assertion.
The skeptics remain numerous, and I am one of them, but never has it seemed that we have been so close to an unblocking of the great bureaucratic jam.