The Sud-Ouest community’s concerns that speculation might result from the Lachine Canal’s development have been voiced on several occasions, particularly at the Forum canal de Lachine in 2000. To respond to these concerns, RESO’s Board of Directors created the Comité habitation Sud-Ouest in 2001.

Constructing an Equitable Space – or How to Manage Revitalization

In its report, tabled before RESO’s Board of Directors in September 2002, the Comité habitation noted that the Sud-Ouest had entered a precocious gentrification phase, indicated by steep rent increases in residential and commercial markets, an increase in applications for renovation permits, an increase in the number of owners, and a wider gap between renters’ and owners’ incomes.

The committee stressed that these were only the first signs of the district’s gentrification and that there was still time to take action to prevent disadvantaged people from being driven from the Sud-Ouest, and to offer housing accessible to middle-income families. The committee also acknowledged the positive impacts of the Sud-Ouest’s transformation: greater social and economic diversity, the arrival of new services and shops, and a greater number of jobs.

In making its recommendations, the committee upheld the general policy of “managing revitalization according to the principles of equitable development, which strives for the creation and retention of communities that are economically and socially diversified, and stable in the long term, by means that incur a minimum of transition costs for low-income residents.”

The committee recommended a number of strategies and measures to secure the existence of an affordable housing stock, preserve existing affordable housing, increase opportunities for owning and keeping homes, and control local development. Specifically, the committee recommended:

• That the process of updating the borough’s Master Plan be initiated in the short term, and that it encourage the community’s active involvement in order to better reflect its aspirations.
• That specific regulations be made to apply inclusive zoning measures to any new project, providing for at least 25% inclusion of affordable housing – and, when possible, social housing – in any project.
• That 400 housing units be reserved for the Sud-Ouest as part of Opération 5000 logements.
• That the Government of Quebec, through the Société d’habitation du Québec, support a pilot project in Montreal’s Sud-Ouest aimed at reducing, through various strategies, obstacles to home-ownership for middle-income households in the Sud-Ouest (those with annual incomes of $40,000 to $70,000).

In its report Construire un espace équitable – ou comment gérer la revitalisation, the Comité habitation Sud-Ouest proposed a number of other measures and strategies designed for various needs and incomes, and to prevent economically disadvantaged people from being driven from the Sud-Ouest.

PALÉE 2007-2010 Courses of Action

The summary of the Plan d’action locale pour l’économie et l’emploi (PALÉE) du Sud-Ouest 2003-2006 states that by December 1, 2005:

• RESO had participated in the City of Montreal’s consultations on an inclusion strategy for affordable housing in new residential projects. Instead of inclusive zoning, the city encourages incentives for promoters to include a proportion of affordable housing units in their projects. Their overall objective: an affordable housing rate of 30%.
• The Sud-Ouest had attained its objective of 400 social housing units in Opération 5000 logements.
• RESO had collaborated with Bâtir son quartier on development of a home-ownership pilot project for moderate-income households. Both parties agreed to integrate the project into the Post Site redevelopment concept.

In general, RESO has concentrated its housing efforts on defining and promoting the Canada Post Site redevelopment project, which promises both functional and social diversity and a potential 625 housing units, including community and cooperative housing, affordable private housing and home-ownership. RESO has also taken part in consultations on redevelopment plans for the CN yards in Pointe-Saint-Charles that include a share of affordable and social housing.

The Plan d'action locale pour l'économie et l'emploi 2007-2010 outlines several courses of action regarding housing in the Sud-Ouest, namely:

• Intensifying mobilization so that redevelopment of the Post Site meets goals claimed by the community, and the project proposed by RESO and its partners is realized.
• Maintain the obligation to include a minimum of 30% affordable housing, half of which (15%) is social housing, in any major residential project (200 units or more).
• Explore the possibilities of creating an acquisition fund to boost available social and community housing.
• Specify targets for diversifying available housing, and the means to attain these targets, in a perspective of social diversity and through consultation with community, private and public stakeholders.
• Launch consultation on redevelopment of the CN yards in Pointe-Saint-Charles, among other sites, for construction of affordable and social housing.