The City of Montreal plans to spend $4.75 million to acquire a former garage in Parc-Extension to accommodate 30 affordable housing units, if financial assistance from Quebec is forthcoming.
The acquisition cost of this land raises eyebrows, the taxable value of the site – which currently has a non-residential vocation – amounting to 1.3 million dollars, according to the last property assessment roll of the Town. There is currently an old garage and a food market.
Questioned on the sidelines of a press conference at Montreal City Hall, the head of housing on the executive committee, Benoit Dorais, however indicated Thursday that the City has in fact spent an amount 6% above of the market value of this building on rue Jarry Ouest to acquire it. It is located in the heart of Parc-Extension, an area in full gentrification where the selling price of properties has increased sharply in recent years.
“We are proving once again that our administration has a very firm desire to increase the number of affordable and community housing units” in the Parc-Extension district, argued Mr. Dorais on Thursday. Since 2019, the City has acquired four lots in this neighborhood where 120 housing units for low-income customers could see the light of day in the coming years.
Present at this press conference, the mayor of the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, also underlined the proliferation of problems encountered by low-income tenants in the borough. They are notably faced with significant increases in their rent and threats of eviction, hence the importance, according to the elected official, of allowing affordable housing to emerge in this sector.
No deadline
This transaction, which will have to receive the approval of the elected members of the municipal council, aims to reserve this land on rue Jarry Ouest for a community organization that would build about thirty affordable housing units there. However, no timetable currently exists for this project, the City not knowing how it will be financed, as several government housing programs are under review, indicated Mr. Dorais.
It is moreover to facilitate the quest for funding for this future development that the City has opted for the concept of affordable housing in its intentions for this site, at a time when funds are lacking in the AccèsLogis Québec kitty to finance social housing projects.
“At least the land will be purchased,” commented Parc-Extension councilor Mary Deros on Thursday, who has been campaigning for years for affordable housing to emerge on this “dirty” site, which serves in good part of parking currently.