More and more community organizations fear that they will no longer be able to offer their services downtown, due to the increase in the price of rents, which makes the premises far too expensive for them.
Some are forced to move, while others have to limit their activities because they don’t have the necessary space. Those who stay in the area pay sky-high rents, which are a burden on limited budgets.
The organization that helps homeless people Résilience Montréal, for example, pays $18,000 a month to temporarily rent the premises of a former restaurant at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Atwater streets, where its day center offers meals, resting places and clothing. The place is very popular with the homeless of aboriginal origin who hang out in Cabot Square, just opposite.
“And I believe that this rent is a little below the market price,” explains David Chapman, general manager of Resilience Montreal.
Future condos
Forced to find a new location, the organization would have liked to settle elsewhere around Cabot Square, where its clientele is located. “But all the land belongs to entrepreneurs who want to build condos. We cannot compete with these companies which can pay millions,” laments Mr. Chapman.
Resilience Montreal will therefore move next year to a new building that it purchased further south, on Atwater Avenue, 600 meters from Cabot Square.
David Chapman is convinced that the target clientele will make the trip to use the new shelter.
But this situation illustrates the difficulties experienced by community organizations that have a storefront downtown.
Others have left the area or are about to do so because they can’t pay their rent, according to Marie Chapdelaine, project manager at the Peter-McGill neighborhood table (west of downtown) , who held a meeting on the subject on Tuesday.
It’s way too expensive, and there aren’t enough spaces to provide services to the community.
Marie Chapdelaine, project manager at the Peter-McGill neighborhood table
Even if some commercial premises are unoccupied, a consequence of the pandemic, “landlords prefer to leave them vacant in the hope that businesses will return to the city center, rather than reducing the price of rent”, she adds.
Another homeless shelter, The Open Door, moved to Plateau Mont-Royal in 2019, due to the closure of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Westmount, where it was staying. According to David Chapman, who ran the organization at the time, the new location is too far from the old one and the regulars there haven’t followed suit.
Moving and lack of space
Innovation Jeunes is one of those who have to offer their services in cramped premises that are ill-suited to their needs. The organization has experienced two moves since 2019.
He was first chased out of his premises on Sainte-Catherine Street West by a 40% rent increase, to find himself in the basement of the Evangel Pentecostal Church, which he must share with three other groups.
In April 2020, Innovation Jeunes started a food bank, in the midst of a pandemic, which moved to another location in the Evangel church, rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest. But in May 2022, the church wanted to recover the premises.
The food bank, which has since become a solidarity market, therefore moved to St. Jax Church, which also serves as a community center, but this time it must share space with a dozen groups.
We have few opportunities to grow our programs and services because we lack space.
Christa Smith, coordinator of the organization Innovation Jeunes
For example, Innovation Jeunes offers the Connections program, in English, to a dozen young dropouts. Participants can finish their high school there, or do internships, volunteer work or find part-time work, with the help of career counsellors.
“We would like to increase our cohorts or have a group in French, but it is currently impossible to welcome more groups”, laments Christa Smith, coordinator of the organization Innovation Jeunes.
Marie Chapdelaine notes that the move of the Y des femmes, planned for 2023 to the Esplanade Cartier, near the Jacques-Cartier bridge, will also create a void in the neighborhood.