4 years later, planned social housing building in Parc-Ex in disrepair and empty

Four years ago, the City of Montreal promised a new social housing project in a neighbourhood that desperately needs it, but today, that Parc-Extension building sits empty and in disrepair.

On the back of the Plaza Hutchison building, the bricks are crumbling.

"It is a symbol of the struggle against gentrification," said community organizer Amy Darwish with the Parc-Extension Action Committee.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante used new legal powers in 2020 and spent $6.5 million to buy the building, saying it would create 40 social housing units.

Today, there are no units or tenants, and the building is falling apart.

The building was once home to several family-run businesses and places of worship, but in 2017, a real estate developer bought the community hub with the city's approval and planned to transform it into a luxury condo.

Tenants were served eviction notices and forced out and anti-gentrification groups rallied against the project.

Before development began, the city swooped in after a year of community mobilization.

"To see it sitting empty after all of that struggle is obviously deeply frustrating," said Darwish. "I don't think that means the building shouldn't have been acquired in the first place. This was something the neighbourhood fought for."

The city's opposition party, Ensemble Montreal, filed an access to information request about the building because it wanted to know what the city was planning.

"The beams, they're in bad shape," said Ensemble Montreal city councillor Mary Deros. "This building will crumble. They are giving false hope to our citizens."

Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension borough mayor Laurence Lavigne Lalonde said upper levels of government are to blame for the stall.

"What we need to create those units is the budget from the other government, Quebec and federal government," said the mayor who sits with Plante's Projet Montreal party.

Community groups say they plan on taking matters into their own hands with assemblies planned for the fall to determine the next steps.