(Quebec) Quebec City is tackling the inexorable decline in population in its historic heart, lest it become a “cardboard Walt Disney”.
Mayor Bruno Marchand announced two measures on Friday that could create up to 180 housing units in the coming years in this neighborhood where vacant land is practically impossible to find.
The City acquired two heritage buildings which were practically no longer used: the Nazareth home and the former Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague school. The price: 8.3 million. City hall is also setting up a subsidy program for owners of unoccupied housing in certain sectors, to the tune of $70,000 to $85,000 per housing unit.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Bruno Marchand
“We have seen the population of Old Quebec decline for more than 20 years. We find ourselves in a vicious circle with fewer and fewer residents, therefore fewer and fewer services and local businesses, therefore fewer and fewer residents interested in coming to settle there,” indicated Bruno Marchand.
The mayor says he fears that the Old Town will lose its soul, invaded by overtourism and Airbnbs while it is abandoned by its residents. “We don’t want Old Quebec to become a cardboard Walt Disney,” said Mr. Marchand during a press conference alongside the leader of the file, Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc.
The sectors of Old Quebec – intramural, Place-Royale, Vieux-Port and Cap-Blanc – had 80 fewer inhabitants in the 2021 census compared to 2016. According to the latest figures, there are now 4,609 inhabitants in these sectors, far from the 5278 in 2006.
The population of Old Quebec has been in free fall since the mid-20th century.e century. Several businesses have closed. Old Quebec no longer has a grocery store or public school. Former mayor Régis Labeaume made this issue a hobby horse, promising to bring 500 permanent residents back to Old Quebec. It never happened.
Friday’s announcement should make it possible to increase the supply of housing in the Old Town, and thereby attract new residents, the mayor believes. “This downward cascade is over,” said Mr. Marchand.
The Marchand administration was not yet able to say whether developers wish to carry out projects in the Nazareth home and the former Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague school. She also did not yet know when these new housing units might be ready.
“We agree to get moving without having all the answers. That’s it, preferring imperfection to nothingness. […] Otherwise, we will no longer move forward,” said the mayor. The City expects to be able to create 150 housing units in the two acquired buildings and around thirty thanks to the program to help renovate vacant premises.
The opposition did not fail to denounce a “poorly crafted” announcement. The leader of the official opposition, Claude Villeneuve, welcomed the good news.
“But I am surprised by the amateurism surrounding the acquisition of the two buildings. These are significant sums at stake, 8 million. We don’t know what we’re going to do with it, we don’t know the state of the buildings… I wonder about the haste,” said Mr. Villeneuve.
The second opposition, for its part, denounced a “show of smoke and mirrors”. “Why rush to make an announcement without the development plan? We have nothing to present to you,” said Patrick Paquet.
* We use intramural data for this table, because this geographic unit has the advantage of having remained the same since 1951.