Montréal, September 16, 2019
Ms. Valérie Plante
Mayor of Montréal and the Ville-Marie Borough
800, boul. de Maisonneuve Est, 19e étage
Montréal (Québec)
H2L 4L8
valerie.plante@ville.montreal.qc.ca
c.c. Cathy Wong, cathy.wong@ville.montreal.qc.ca;
Félix Gravel, felix.gravel@ville.montreal.qc.ca;
Marc Labelle, marclabelle@ville.montreal.qc.ca;
Cameron Charlebois
Phyllis Lambert
Subject : Support for elected officials regarding social housing on the former Montreal Children’s Hospital site
Dear Mayor Plante,
The Peter-McGill Community Council welcomes the public announcement made by the Mayor regarding the social housing tower on the Children’s Square with optimism. Mayor Plante affirmed on Sunday September 15th that the City intends to use all means in its power to ensure that this project is completed. The Council is ready to support elected officials and the public administration in any future actions related to the matter.
We are following the issue of social housing on the former Montreal Children’s Hospital site very closely. Despite ongoing negotiations with the site’s developers over past 2 years, elected officials and civil servants still cannot guarantee to the community that this social housing tower for families will be built.
The inclusion of social housing for families on the site would effectively guarantee the social acceptability of the Children’s Square project, especially in conjunction with the construction of the Peter-McGill cultural & community centre. These elements, among others, were mentioned not only by the OCPM report, but also by the previous administration. The Peter-McGill neighbourhood is suffering from a growing shortage of social and affordable housing, due in part to the rapid construction of condos over the last few years. Like the Table de concertation du Quartier des Grands Jardins, we believe that more housing for families must be provided downtown in order to create a welcoming environment for all.
With upcoming consultations for the new regulation on social housing, we are calling on the City of Montreal to ensure that housing commitments made prior to the adoption of this regulation are respected. It would be a great injustice towards the community to abandon the Children’s Square project despite repeated demands made over the years by neighbourhood residents.
We look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Stéphane Febrrari Vermette, Director of the Peter-McGill Community Council