The mayors of Montreal, Laval and Longueuil refuse to take responsibility for the housing crisis, preferring to blame Quebec and the macroeconomic context.
“What is holding [supply] back is not the density thresholds. What is holding back at the moment are interest rates, construction costs, the labor shortage, said the mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer, in a press scrum. It is the macroeconomic context that is holding back the development of new housing projects. It is the lack of funding in social housing programs. That’s much more the brake than the number of floors to build. »
According to the elected official, there is no point in building housing at $700,000 per unit which will be unaffordable. “We haven’t settled the issue. It is a concerted effort that we must have and which must include Quebec and the federal government. »
Mr. Boyer was participating Monday morning in the Strategic Forum on major housing projects at New City Gas in the Griffintown district. The event was organized by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. Also present at the strategic forum, the mayors of Montreal, Valérie Plante, and of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, took part in the same press briefing.
There is currently a shortage of 100,000 dwellings in Quebec, according to an organization representing building contractors. Housing starts plummet 30% in 2023, the largest annual decline since 1995. Vacant homes are so scarce that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation predicts rents will rise 30% in Montreal over the next of the next three years. Housing affordability deteriorated rapidly beginning in 2020 with rising prices and then rising interest rates.
Whose Responsibility? is it legitimate to ask.
“In times of crisis, underlined Valérie Plante, a bold government will decide to invest in its infrastructure. I think we have the situation. You have to get on the train. The Government of Quebec has an incredible opportunity to seize. In my opinion, he should have grabbed it sooner. But better late than never. Can we see it, this vision? Can we invest with municipalities, private investors, with everyone who is ready? she asked.
“Our role as a city is to put the regulatory framework that the city develops in a harmonious way with beautiful neighborhoods, indicated for his part Mr. Boyer. It is to make sure to put the tools in place so that we are not an obstacle to development. We are doing the work on our side in terms of municipal regulations. »
In the years leading up to the present crisis, the work of the cities also consisted of increasing transfer taxes for real estate buyers, which contributes to increasing the cost of becoming a homeowner in Quebec. 1
Another initiative, cities across Quebec have begun to tax new housing with development royalties. In the case of Ville de Prévost, the sums thus collected will be used in particular to pay for a new town hall. 2
For its part, the City of Montreal, which complains of running out of money for social housing, has waived compensation of 6.2 million from the developer of phase 6 of Square Children 3, preferring to lower the zoning by 20 4 floors to punish him for not building the social housing under the “social contract” he had signed up to.
A dossier published in La Presse in December 2022 4 showed that more than 4,400 dwellings have been curtailed by municipal administrations. Consider the mayor of Pointe-Claire, Tim Thomas, who got elected by opposing residential tower projects, even those that would be erected next to a REM station on an underused parking lot in A mall. 5
A very recent example, a 176-unit project in front of Émilie-Gamelin Park in Montreal is currently blocked due to the refusal of a single tenant to vacate the premises. What can the City do to expedite the project? was asked during the press briefing.
“We are very supportive of this project, first took the time to mention Mayor Plante. We see all the potential for the neighborhood. What we asked the promoter was to find an agreement with the tenant […]. We hope it will be sorted out. For the rest, we have moved forward with the owner until this condition is met. »
The case is before the Administrative Housing Tribunal.
The Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, will table her bill this week aimed at rebalancing the rights of landlords and tenants, a sibylline formula that has the advantage of sowing hope in both camps. “The project will take into account these two principles, the right to tenure and the right to property, and try to restore a balance between the two,” the minister said in a press briefing on Monday. We thought we were attending the filing this Wednesday, but it will be Friday, says his press officer Philippe Couture.
Workers won’t be back in the office until 2024, says an office real estate veteran. “I don’t expect us to go back to five days a week at the office,” said Jean Laurin, president and partner of the Avison Young Quebec agency. For me, it’s going to be three to four days. It is not in 2023 [that we will see the return to the office three days a week]. We will start to see it a little more in 2024. It is in 2025 [that it will become generalized]. »
The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal has unveiled the main lines of its study aimed at stimulating housing construction. According to this document, it is necessary to build 23,100 dwellings per year for 20 years to get out of the crisis. Historical annual production is around 13,900 dwellings. Among its 15 recommendations, the Chamber proposes to withdraw the referendum approval procedure applicable in the TOD areas of Greater Montreal.
In the first, the mayor imposed a moratorium on any new residential towers. At the other, Kirkland opened the door to a project to densify the former facilities of the pharmaceutical company Merck. “Civil servants and politicians have sent a clear message to their citizens: the City wants housing and to densify its TOD area”, explained Laurence Vincent, president of Prével, during the presentation of her project. Result: Prével and TGTA will bring 1000 to 1200 units out of the ground there.