{"id":5213,"date":"2020-03-10T13:49:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T17:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/?p=5213"},"modified":"2020-03-10T16:31:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T20:31:28","slug":"cafe-discussion-with-cathy-wong-a-thorough-evening-about-housing-in-peter-mcgill-by-philippe-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/cafe-discussion-with-cathy-wong-a-thorough-evening-about-housing-in-peter-mcgill-by-philippe-fines\/","title":{"rendered":"Caf\u00e9-discussion with Cathy Wong: An informative evening about housing in Peter-McGill, by Philippe Fin\u00e8s"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><em>This article was written as part of the Peter-McGill Community Council\u2019s\u00a0<strong>Citizen Journalism<\/strong> project, which aims to raise the voices of local residents, students and friends of the neighbourhood through writing, photos, videos and podcasting. If you would like to contribute please e-mail us at <a href=\"mailto:benevolat@petermcgill.org\">benevolat@petermcgill.org<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5236 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_200031-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"390\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_200031-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_200031-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_200031-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_200031-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_200031-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_200031-1320x990.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The bad weather of January 27 2020 did not stop about 30 citizens of Peter-McGill district from participating in a \u201ccaf\u00e9-discussion\u201d on housing.\u00a0 Cathy Wong, city councillor for Peter-McGill district in Ville-Marie borough, and Richard Ryan, city councillor specialized in housing, were the invited speakers.<\/p>\n<p>At 6:20 pm, the night starts when Andrew introduces our two speakers.\u00a0 They both will give a short presentation, and after that they will answer to the questions from the assistance.\u00a0 The meeting was done in French and in English.<\/p>\n<p>Cathy Wong made a clear, concise and well documented presentation about housing in Peter-McGill district.\u00a0\u00a0 She projected the image of a self-confident, friendly, open person.\u00a0 Her mastering of the question of housing gave right away confidence to the audience.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Wong reminded to all that housing is of municipal and provincial competence.\u00a0 The objective for the new dwellings is to have in 2021, 20% affordable, 20% social and 20% family homes.\u00a0 Presently, 1300 social dwellings are being built, and 3000 are in the process of being developed. La Coop de la Montagne verte is such an example of social dwellings.<\/p>\n<p>Several themes were addressed by Ms. Wong and Mr. Ryan (through their talks and in the audience\u2019s questions), such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First buyers. The city is implementing a strategy to allow families to be owners. To encourage this, the city \u201cworks very hard\u201d (according to Ms Wong) so that the new projects include elementary schools, green spaces, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Inoccupation rate. This rate is presently 1.6%, which is very low.\u00a0 The normal rate is 3% to allow for a good renewing of leases.\u00a0 With such a low rate, the short-term advice that the speakers gave is to make sure to sign the new lease before moving out of the old dwelling.<\/li>\n<li>The city will hire more inspectors to examine the unhealthy dwellings.<\/li>\n<li>Children\u2019s Hospital. The promotor had promised to make social dwellings, so this led the city to change the zoning in that area. However, he denied his commitment, so now the city tries to sue him.\u00a0 The case is still unresolved.<\/li>\n<li>To the question \u201cDo you plan to levy a tax for empty dwellings?\u201d , the answer was \u201cno\u201d, but changes may be considered later.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5216 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_182115-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_182115-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_182115-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_182115-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_182115-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_182115-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_182115-1320x990.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 435px) 100vw, 435px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The situation of \u201ctouristic dwellings\u201d (which include touristic lodges and residences) \u2013 that is, more casually \u201cAirbnb\u201d \u2013 made for most of the discussions and questions. According to Mr. Ryan, it is a \u201ccomplex\u201d issue.\u00a0 The main parts of this issue, as described by both speakers, are\u00a0:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When a dwelling\u2019s status moves from \u201cresidence\u201d to \u201ctouristic\u201d, the number of dwellings for residence decreases.<\/li>\n<li>There are about 400 touristic dwellings in the district, but presently nobody knows how many of them are illegal.<\/li>\n<li>The term \u201crenoviction\u201d means renovation of the dwelling followed by eviction of the tenants, in order to transform the dwelling into a touristic dwelling. Most tenants who endure renoviction cede to the owner\u2019s condition, without fighting at the R\u00e9gie du lodgement.\u00a0 Abusive evictions did occur in the past, but the city is now able to exercise a better control, thanks to specific by-laws.<\/li>\n<li>An owner (or a tenant with the owner\u2019s authorization) can transform a residential dwelling into a touristic dwelling, but several conditions apply. That must be done in the correct zoning.\u00a0 In particular, starting May 1<sup>st<\/sup>, 2020, it will be possible to lease a dwelling for tourist purpose only if is the principal place of residence.\u00a0 Revenu Qu\u00e9bec will send inspectors to enforce this bylaw; any violation could lead to a fine of 25\u00a0000$.<\/li>\n<li>Until now, there is no time limit for a permit for a touristic dwelling. However, a new bill (for autumn 2020) will allow the city to revoke this permit in case of abuse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5232 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_194759-1024x920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"418\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_194759-1024x920.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_194759-300x269.jpg 300w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_194759-768x690.jpg 768w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_194759-1536x1379.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_194759-2048x1839.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/img_20200227_194759-1320x1185.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In summary, the meeting was very interesting: it allowed a direct contact between citizens and deciders.\u00a0 However, there might have been a little too much time devoted to touristic dwellings, as opposed to the day-to-day dwelling conditions (such as cost, healthiness, accessibility).<\/p>\n<p>In any case, this meeting will certainly motivate each and every one to be involved in the decisions about their city!<\/p>\n<p><em>Article by Philippe Fin\u00e8s<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Photos by Corey Gulkin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article was written as part of the Peter-McGill Community Council\u2019s\u00a0Citizen Journalism project, which aims to raise the voices of local residents, students and friends of the neighbourhood through writing, photos, videos and podcasting. If you would like to contribute please e-mail us at benevolat@petermcgill.org! The bad weather of January 27 2020 did not stop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,173,30],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5247,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions\/5247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}