The residential district which is to replace Place Versailles will include only 9% social housing and less than 1% affordable housing, the real estate developer confirmed this week.
These ratios are far from those required by the municipal regulations of the City of Montreal (i.e. 20% social housing and 20% affordable housing), but financial compensation will be paid, assured Kevin Robinson, spokesperson for Place Versailles.
“The project provides for 471 socio-community units and 42 affordable housing units. All these accommodations will be located in quality locations near the parks,” he said in a written statement. “We offer a respectable proportion of social and affordable housing. »
IMAGE PROVIDED BY PLACE VERSAILLES
A diagram of the residential project that will replace Place Versailles
In total, around 5,200 housing units should replace the iconic shopping center in eastern Montreal. Two 25-story towers are notably proposed, in addition to commercial spaces, parks and land reserved for a school. Construction is planned in phases, over a period of more than a decade.
The proposal from the owners of Place Versailles must be the subject of extensive consultations in the coming months.
“A very interesting project,” says the local mayor
The proportion of social and affordable housing in the project rebounded at the municipal council earlier this week.
Opposition elected official Julien Hénault-Ratelle stressed that the developer’s plans are far from meeting the requirements of the City of Montreal.
“You will understand that we are very far from the mark,” he said. “The drastic increase in heights planned in the project to date should not be done without the guarantee of having a sufficient housing supply for low-income Montrealers. »
“We have a very interesting project,” replied the mayor of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Pierre Lessard-Blais. These are “5,000 housing units, a significant part of which will be social and affordable housing. These are elements that can be discussed during [la consultation de] the Montreal Public Consultation Office. »
“It’s still special to be told for several years by the opposition: you are demanding too much from promoters,” he continued. “There we have a project and there is not enough for the opposition. »