When the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) published its annual report on the state of rental housing, the media said “The housing crisis is over!” in response to the higher vacancy rate observed by the CMHC. But this bland vacancy rate statistic hides the fact that apartments are more expensive than ever before: in the zone that includes Cote-des-Neiges, a 2-bedroom apartment costs sccording to CMHC an average of $908 per month, significantly more than a few years ago.
It’s unusual for a North American city to have more renters than owners. Montreal is unique in that two-thirds of households are tenants. But in Cote-des-Neiges, it’s even more remarkable: almost 80% of households are tenants. In spite of this, we see condos cropping up all over the neighbourhood, whether it’s the 3000+ units in the Namur-Jean-Talon triangle, the brand-new Victorienne on Cote-Ste-Catherine and Victoria, or the shiny buildings on Cote-des-Neiges and Richwood.
In fact, since 2011 there have been only 9 new rental units built in the neighbourhood versus a whopping 1600 condo units (Le Devoir). There are fewer and fewer apartments for people with a low income, slowly forcing people out of their neighbourhood.
One word for this kind of development is gentrification, a process where people with higher incomes move to low-income neighbourhoods and make it hard for existing residents to continue to live there.
In Cote-des-Neiges, this process has just begun to unfold. But it’s already having an impact on tenants. When property values go up, tenants face drastic rent increases. These rent increases make it more difficult to get to the end of the month and people sink deeper and deeper into poverty. In 2013, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the neighbourhood was $706 – already more than a single person on welfare makes in a month ($617). Or sometimes people have to work many jobs to make ends meet, which means less time with family.
The process of gentrification hits businesses, too. Increased property taxes affect small businesses and the type of business itself may change. We are already seeing some fancier stores that just don’t cater to people on lower incomes. Not being able to afford anything in a store in your neighbourhood leaves you feeling like you’re on the outside, even when you’ve been here a long time.
Having a plan for the neighbourhood that actually includes social housing is the only way to create a balance in Cote-des-Neiges. But instead of discussing the social housing issue, a few months ago, Mayor Russell Copeman announced $60 million for revamping the infrastructure around the Triangle development – quite a chunky investment. If he had decided to invest the same amount in social housing he would have been able to build 600 new units! Decision-makers like Copeman have to be more accountable to the needs of the population. They need to put more content behind their words, so that they’re more than just pious wishes.
Rosario Topia, Claude Hopfenblum, Pinto Nalawattage, Charles Levine and Claire Abraham, members of the Project Genesis Housing Rights Committee