Montreal was asking for four times more money for social housing in the metropolis than the amount that was finally granted by the Quebec government, Valérie Plante revealed on Wednesday.
The mayor has been expressing her deep disappointment for a week with the budgetary choices of the Legault government.
At the executive committee of the City of Montreal, she indicated for the first time that Montreal was asking for 314 million to ensure the completion of 12 pending social housing projects, for a total of around 1,000 units. Last week, Quebec instead chose to grant 79 million for five of these projects. The other seven will remain pending.
“We don’t give organizations the means to take out the land units,” lamented Valérie Plante. If the Government of Quebec wants the units to come out of the ground, it will have to extend the money. Because there, it is mission impossible for the organisms. »
“The needs are not waiting. They are increasing all the time, all the time, all the time,” she added.
Last week, Minister Chantal Rouleau called on Valérie Plante to take action with the money available rather than multiplying requests.
“Ms. Plante always wants more money, but there is a lot of money and there is housing to be built,” argued Ms. Rouleau, one of the only two elected caquistes on the island of Montreal. .
Faced with the housing crisis, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) had promised the construction of 11,700 new affordable housing units in the current mandate, but in the most recent budget, it is funding only 1,500. Quebec explains that thousands of housing already announced has still not been built, but that it still has several years to fulfill its promise. The Girard budget also provided for a sum of 191 million in 2022-2023 to “finalize the construction” of 3,300 housing units whose construction was delayed.