Plante says federal housing money is a good start, but we're in catch-up mode

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante welcomed Ottawa's new spending commitments in this week's federal budget, particularly to help ease the housing crisis.

In its budget presented on Tuesday, the federal government promised to increase the capital expenditure rate for apartments from four to 10 per cent, giving builders a bigger tax write-off and extending mortgage amortization periods to 30 years for first-time home buyers in new builds. .

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The government has also promised to provide more public land for housing, including Canada Post and National Defense properties, while leasing land to developers; and spending $250 million over two years to address the “urgent problem” of encampments and the housing shortage for homeless people.

“I'm satisfied with the political will to address the issue of asylum,” Plante told reporters Wednesday morning. “Over the past few weeks, we've seen the federal government make announcements about various measures, which to me shows that there is no single solution to the crisis. There have to be a lot of solutions, so the federal government is spending a lot of energy and money trying not to, but at least it's good news to have a real solution to this problem.”

There appears to be a strong build-up between the provincial and federal governments to pour more money into housing, but Plante said the announcements should only be a starting point. It will take years of sustained effort to achieve significant improvement, he added.

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He welcomed the federal and provincial government's recent $1.8 billion housing deal, including 763 units announced last week, “but we're ready to catch up,” he said. “In previous years, the provincial government didn't invest that much.”

Plante said he hopes to make major announcements soon about the thousands of units that will be reserved for those living on the fringes or less fortunate.

Although he did not name specific areas, the city hopes to build social and affordable housing in the Namur-Hippodrome area, which could accommodate 6,000 new homes; Lachine East and Bridge-Bonaventure, each of which can accommodate about 8,000 people; as well as the planned projects for the former Molson Brewery and the CBC/Radio-Canada Tower.

“I'm really interested in: How can we build more and bigger together (with the provincial and federal governments)?” – said Plante. “How to build an entire district in the city quickly and responsively to needs?” Because the needs are great.”

Moving quickly on these projects is important, but Plante said his administration's commitment to providing a mix of affordable, social and family housing is also important.

“If we don't solve the housing crisis, it could stop the economic development of Montreal and the country, frankly. When I talk to the mayors of other cities, we are all in the same boat. We all want to build more as soon as possible.”

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