In an extensive interview published in the Business section of The Press, Serge Goulet, CEO of Devimco, says his real estate projects will respond to the housing crisis, reduce urban sprawl and the impact on climate change. There are, however, many voices who affirm that this mode of development – with the obvious example of Griffintown – is largely responsible for the housing crisis, the gentrification and the exodus of less well-off families and populations from the neighborhoods. centers of the city. Densify, yes, but how far and for whom?
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
In Griffintown, it is better to be wealthy and childless
In order to claim to be responding to the housing crisis by building residential units, they must actually be inhabited by Montreal households. However, a study by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) shows that approximately one-third of Griffintown housing is used for speculative purposes, on the short-term rental market or as a second home.1. It also reveals that, during the pandemic, it was in Griffintown that we observed the strongest progression of the exodus to the suburbs. It’s hard to live with your family in a neighborhood with a lack of collective facilities in a cramped condo…
In Montreal, affordable housing of adequate size is sorely lacking. The last episode of 1er July is illuminating: while the vacancy rate for affordable family housing was around 2%, that for luxury housing exceeded 7%.
The low percentage of social housing included in real estate projects will not meet demand. And after fiercely opposing the By-law for a mixed metropolis of the City of Montreal, almost all developers have chosen, since its entry into force, to pay compensation in cash rather than build social housing on site.2.
Our pension funds in projects without social acceptability
In the Peel Basin, Devimco prides itself on relying on its financial partners, including the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ, the STM Retirement Fund and Fondaction (CSN). Research on the financialization of housing by the Collectif de Recherche et d’Action sur l’Habitat highlights the growing role of these investment funds in the construction of luxury residential towers3. To achieve high performance targets, developers favor micro-condos and vertical communities to the detriment of housing corresponding to real needs and user-friendly urban planning. With the added bonus of upward pressure on surrounding rents and accelerated gentrification.
Pension funds, first and foremost union funds, have nevertheless begun to reflect on ethical investment and climate change. When will there be an in-depth reflection on their role in financing housing that their members and families will never be able to afford?
Urgency to act to circumvent democratic processes
Even before the adoption of municipal planning, Devimco and a consortium of promoters occupied the media space with their “Bridge-Bonaventure Vision”, urging the City to accept maximum density on public and private land in the sector.
This is a perfect illustration of the “shock strategy” and the stranglehold of developers on urban development.4. They use the rhetoric of crisis and urgency to accelerate development and obtain zoning permits. Let’s refuse to give them carte blanche, despite their talk of greenwashing and dialogue with the communities! We will not solve the climate crisis with concrete towers in ultra-densified and unaffordable neighborhoods.
The City of Montreal must choose its side. To resolve the crisis, it must not facilitate, but on the contrary, curb the ardor of real estate developers, involve the populations in development and conceive of it other than through the lens of profit. Community groups and citizens of Pointe-Saint-Charles, gathered around the Action-Gardien consultation, will be there to put sand in the gears of these too well-oiled developing machines.