The City of Montreal will purchase two residential buildings to entrust to organizations that can use them to house vulnerable people.
By acquiring these buildings, the Plante administration wants to keep their rents as low as they are now. This would prevent speculation by real estate investors.
The first building is on rue Louis-Hémon in the Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc extension. The two-storey building is a student residence with 18 units. It is acquired for $1.53 million.
Another building on rue Plessis in Ville-Marie was optioned for $2.25 million. The three-story building has 17 residential units whose leases expire on June 30.
The signing of the purchase contracts is planned for April.
“This type of housing represents, in many cases, the last bastion that prevents a person from becoming homeless,” said Benoit Dorais, executive committee vice president and responsible for housing, real estate strategy, legal affairs and strategic real estate projects.
The city will entrust these buildings to organizations that have not yet been located but will be named in the coming months.
“We ensure these settlements continue to provide accessible housing and we avoid displacement of vulnerable populations,” he added.
Montreal was able to secure these buildings due to the right of first refusal. This allows the city to purchase certain buildings or land ahead of all other buyers to carry out community projects.
For a year now, 101 dormitories in nine districts have been subject to the right of first refusal. For the time being, the city acquired two of them in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Sud-Ouest last December.