The head of Projet Montréal, Valerie Plante, promises to build and develop 60,000 affordable housing units in the coming years by acquiring land in various boroughs, if his party obtains a new mandate in November. However, it refuses to give itself a clear timetable to achieve this objective.
Ms. Plante made this electoral promise Wednesday morning at a press conference held in the district of Villeray – Saint-Michel – Parc-Extension in the presence of three other elected members of her political party.
To achieve this target, the head of Projet Montréal proposes to spend $ 800 million within 10 years to acquire land in the metropolis, in particular by using its right of pre-emption, which gives it priority to purchase on sites. for sale.
Once these lands have been acquired, the City will be able to resell them at an advantageous price to non-profit organizations and private developers, who will build affordable units there, the sale or rental price of which must be 90% of the total. market value, she explained. Ms. Plante did not, however, come up with a realistic timeline to achieve the completion of these possible 60,000 affordable housing units.
By limiting the annual increase in the resale value of affordable units to 3%, as provided for in the By-law for a mixed metropolis, Ms. Plante affirms that the City will be able to prevent the purchase of housing in this category by real estate developers and well-heeled owners wishing to re-let them at a high price, as has happened on several occasions in recent years, according to a survey by Journal of Montreal.
As for its strategy of 12,000 housing units, announced in 2018, Ms. Plante affirms that the City has exceeded its target of 6,000 affordable units, while that of 6,000 social units is almost reached, to a few hundred units. It should be noted, however, that the City does not only include new constructions, but also renovated housing in various places in the metropolis.
This announcement comes an hour after aspiring mayor Denis Coderre held a press conference at around 9:30 a.m. on cleanliness issues in the metropolis. The gap is narrowing between the former mayor and Ms. Plante, in the voting intentions of Montrealers.
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