A mother is kneeling on the floor buttoning her child’s coat when suddenly he leans against her. She loses her balance and tips backwards. She bursts out laughing as she falls.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
I wait for Faiz Abhuani in the entrance of the community center run by Brick by Brick, the non-profit organization he founded. Here, we orchestrate meetings between families, DJ workshops, bingo and many other activities that allow residents of the Parc-Extension district to come together.
But that’s not what interests me today. Rather, the organization develops affordable housing.
You see, Faiz Abhuani is a real estate broker who wants to make the market more accessible. And he succeeds. A very first building operated by Brick by Brick will be built this spring. There will be 31 apartments whose tenants will pay a rent not exceeding 25% of their income.
It was a long road to get there, as I will soon learn.
In the meantime, I watch this mother and her child. And I laugh, too.
Faiz Abhuani apologizes when he finds me; he has a big day.
We go up to the second floor, whose premises are rented to various organizations. I start the discussion, while he prepares me a tea.
“What led you to community work?
— I wanted to “change the world”.
“Why are you miming quotation marks?” You do not believe in changing it, on a small scale?
– Perhaps. I think that the day when I will be satisfied, I will stop working… So it is better to continue to doubt. »
He sits smiling.
And I fall in love.
He tells me about his parents of Indian origin who found refuge in Canada, after a stay in Africa. Of the many accommodations that followed one another in his childhood, of the instability of the clan, of the injustices suffered. From his academic dive into history, anthropology, colonialism and capitalism…
“I understood that what my grandparents, my parents and I suffered from was not our fault,” he sums up. That it was part of a global economic and political dynamic. »
Faiz Abhuani therefore took a close interest in the various liberation movements that changed the course of history. He concluded that it was possible to have a global impact while taking action at home. He became a community organizer.
However, in the midst of austerity, the means were lacking to satisfy its ambitions. He dropped everything and got himself a job as a part-time bike mechanic. The rest of his weeks were devoted to activism.
“I learned a lot, he told me, but there was little long-term vision and it was difficult to build… Me, I really wanted to build.
— So how did you begin your professional reorientation?
“You mean: how did I go from hipster a little bum to a ferociously anti-capitalist real estate broker? »
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
Faiz Abhuani wanted to develop his own infrastructure to incite social change. In 2016, he founded Brick by Brick. Since then, the organization has aimed to offer services to the residents of Parc-Extension and to promote the creation of social housing.
This man has the sense of the formula.
Faiz Abhuani wanted to develop his own infrastructure to incite social change. In 2016, he founded Brick by Brick. Since then, the organization has aimed to offer services to the residents of Parc-Extension and to promote the creation of social housing.
And what is the best way to generate housing? Understand real estate.
So Faiz became a broker.
His plan: to decommodify real estate to put the needs of communities first. In other words, doing responsible brokerage.
At Brick by Brick, we support clients who see their modest project refused by other brokers. We also support wealthy owners who agree to give the organization a percentage of the profits made from the sale of their home.
Surprisingly, there are several!
The broker explains to me that many people affected by injustice are very well off and are looking for ways to give back. For example, some wish to compensate for the gentrification of a neighborhood to which they contribute by buying a house there. Others hope to feel less helpless in the face of the housing crisis. In any case, Brick by Brick becomes an interesting option…
It is with the money that comes from these brokerage activities, in addition to a few grants, investments and partnerships, that the organization acquired the duplex, which has now been transformed into a community centre.
It is also these funds that enabled the construction of the very first social housing units managed by Brick by Brick.
The 31 apartments will be located on the grounds of a former commercial building, avenue de l’Épée. A land that the organization has been coveting for a few years already…
The City of Montreal bought it in 2019 and then sold it to Brick by Brick, which partnered with the ROMEL group to create a space that meets the needs of the community.
As the neighborhood has many large families, many units will have three bedrooms, for example. An inner courtyard will allow children to meet and the windows of each kitchen will overlook said courtyard, so that parents can take a look at the kids while preparing meals.
With this first building, the organism will generate security. Faiz Abhuani believes that the difficulty in finding a stable roof generates a lot of injustices…
“There are plenty of social problems! Do you want to solve them without breaking your head too much? Do social housing. »
He goes on to tell me about his team, the volunteers who make Brick by Brick successful.
“The people who work with us are very motivated. Maybe because they are all friends! In fact, if you want to change the world, it’s not social housing that you have to do, after all… It’s more about putting energy into your own community. On friendship. On love.
“You know that will be the conclusion of my column, don’t you?” »
He smiles at me, as if to say that he knows, yes.