Plante unveils revamped affordable housing bylaw, amid rising homelessness

A year away from the next municipal election, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is taking a second crack at fulfilling one of her key campaign promises: unveiling a revamped plan to boost affordable housing in the city.

Plante is hoping her plan will encourage more lower income families to stay in Montreal, while minimizing the financial hit for real estate developers.

"Montreal has to remain an island for everyone and not just for the most affluent," said Plante during a press conference on Thursday.

The plan's first version was presented in June 2019 in the form of a proposed bylaw that would have compelled developers to include social, affordable and family housing (three-bedroom units) in new constructions with five to 49 units — or contribute to a municipal fund if they failed to do so.

The new bylaw would apply only to certain "zones" of the city, Plante said, starting with areas in the Saint-Laurent and Lachine boroughs, with that list expected to grow over time.

Outside of those zones, builders will only be required to contribute to the city's social housing fund — not set aside affordable housing units.

The change in the bylaw also means it is now expected to take effect in April of 2021, instead of January.

Plante defended the delay behind the implementation of this plan.

"Some people would've liked to see this bylaw implemented earlier, but it was very important for us to make a good one," she said. "

"It's why I'm so confident today, because I feel we did the right thing."

The mayor says the bylaw includes financial incentives for developers to include social housing units in their plans; the more housing they build the more money they get.

Plante says this would create about 600 social and 500 family housing units a year.

The bylaw is already drawing some criticism from housing advocates and business groups. Housing advocates say it's a good first step, but that developers should be required to build 40 per cent social housing units — not 20 per cent as the bylaw states.

"Six hundred units doesn't even answer the needs of the people, and what we're seeing with the pandemic and the housing shortage through the years, it's just going to get worse," said Catherine Lussier, an organizer for the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU).

Business groups say construction companies have been hit hard by the pandemic. They're asking the city to further delay the bylaw.

They say it could cost developers extra and force them to pass the cost on to other tenants or property owners.