Tenants will bear brunt of C.D.N.-N.D.G. tax hike

Tenants who can least afford it are expected to be among the hardest hit when property taxes rise in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Damede-Grâce, the borough with the biggest average hike in the latest Montreal budget.

“It will have a significant impact on tenants,” said Claire Abraham, an organizer at Project Genesis, a community group that helps people with low incomes in the Côtedes- Neiges part of the borough.

The average property tax bill in C.D.N.-N.D.G. will rise by 2.8 per cent in 2019, under the budget handed down by Mayor Valérie Plante on Thursday. The average across the city will be 1.7 per cent, matching the projected inflation rate for next year.

The hikes in C.D.N.-N.D.G. will not be spread evenly. On average, taxes on condos will rise by less than one per cent — and those on single-family homes will jump by 1.8 per cent. However, buildings with six or more units will see average increases of 5.7 per cent.

Landlords can pass on property tax hikes to tenants through rent increases, Abraham noted. “Income, both welfare and minimum wage, haven’t kept up with inflation and rent increases have often surpassed it,” Abraham said, noting average rents in Côte-des-Neiges rose by 11 per cent between 2011 and 2016.

“We already see people every day who are having a really hard time paying the rent,” often for sub-par apartments, she added.

One in five tenants in the neighbourhood spent more than half their income on rent, she said.

For people on fixed incomes or working minimum-wage jobs, rising rents eat into other expenses. They have less to spend on food, rely more heavily on food banks and community kitchens, and walk long distances rather than spend money on transit, Abraham said.

She said the borough needs more social and affordable housing but despite promises from the Plante administration, no such projects have gotten off the ground since the new mayor took office a year ago.

Borough Mayor Sue Montgomery said apartment buildings, traditionally undervalued in the borough, are being sold for increasingly higher prices, reflected in higher city evaluations. “We don’t have any control over that,” she noted.

She said she’s concerned by the hike in apartment-building taxes and the impact on tenants.

Montgomery, elected with Plante’s Projet Montréal party, said the city is setting aside tens of millions to fund social and affordable housing that will help alleviate problems faced by low-income renters, but it takes time to plan such projects.

She said the borough is also lobbying for changes that will enhance its financial situation.

Under the current formula, C.D.N.-N.D.G. gets less per capita from the central city than other boroughs, something Montgomery said she hopes will change when the formula is updated in the coming months.