It is with numerous tools, innovative ideas and concrete solutions that the City of Longueuil intends to contribute to meeting the housing challenges on its territory.
“For cities to achieve this goal, we must work together and innovate. This is also the reason why the mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer, and I decided to join forces during the last municipal election campaign by committing to quickly hold an event aimed at bringing together the main players in housing “explains the mayor, Catherine Fournier.
A very first Pan-Quebec Housing Summit
Ville de Longueuil and Ville de Laval therefore co-organized the very first Pan-Quebec Housing Summit, held on August 26th. The event managed to bring together more than 400 participants in person and more than 900 online, including many elected municipal officials and actors from the governmental, institutional, private, community and academic sectors. The Summit gave rise to an abundance of ideas and inspiring exchanges.
At the end of this major event, the ten largest cities in Quebec signed a joint declaration, reiterating in particular the requests made by the UMQ in February 2022. We insist, among other things, on the need to increase the funding dedicated to projects social housing and to give more autonomy to cities in the management of housing-related programs on their territory. Above all, these mayors have committed to start or contribute to projects, ready to be implemented in the next year. The results of these projects could be shared within the framework of an intermunicipal community of practice on housing affordability within the UMQ.
Concrete actions already underway in Longueuil
Longueuil intends to mobilize several levers to promote gentle and differentiated densification on its territory, while respecting local entities, heritage and infrastructure capacity, while preserving natural and agricultural environments. In terms of land, an inventory of underused land and buildings on the territory will be carried out, in order to better think about urban development. Similarly, on the financial and fiscal level, a revision of the regulations will be fueled in particular by collective reflection workshops led by the urban planning firm Arpent.
The collaboration of the next government: a necessity to resolve the crisis
The Summit demonstrated a real sense of responsibility for cities in terms of housing. To support these various initiatives from the municipal world, it is hoped that the next Quebec government will also be an ally in the search for solutions and the implementation of structural initiatives in support of cities.
“Beyond the solutions envisaged by the various levels of government, the key is to be able to coordinate better in order to work together for the benefit of the people we represent. Having a roof over your head, a healthy environment in which you can live, grow and flourish, a comfortable space where you can be happy and safe, is not only one of the greatest determinants of individual health, it is a basic human right. It is from this premise that we must all have our future in mind! “, concluded Catherine Fournier.
Website: Longueuil.quebec