Hampstead opts for a different type of green
Garden city opts for different type of green, approves demolition of affordable housing
Over more than a century, Hampstead has cultivated a reputation as an idyllic “garden city.”
The leafy municipality of meandering suburban streets, sprawling single-family homes, low-slung duplexes, verdant yards and picturesque parks has proudly resisted urbanization, despite its prime location smack dab in the middle of Montreal. It has largely eschewed the densification and commercial development of neighbouring cities and boroughs, preserving its suburban character instead.
But now it may be ready to tinker with its cherished model, at least on the fringes, in pursuit of a different kind of green.
Hampstead city council decided Monday night to raze two prewar brick apartment blocks on Côte-St-Luc Rd. and erect a 10-storey “luxury” rental apartment complex in its place. Over the objections of the tenants who live there and despite the opposition of residents who will find themselves in the new tower’s shadow, Hampstead council voted 4-3 in favour, with Mayor William Steinberg breaking the deadlock.
Money for its depleted public coffers is the main reason for a decision that deviates from Hampstead’s long history as a garden city and will oust several dozen longtime residents. Steinberg admitted as much at an earlier council meeting, where the final decision was deferred.
“We desperately need a new town hall, and a new recreation centre, but we don’t have the money to do that,” he said. “If Côte-St-Luc Rd. starts getting developed, yes, we will have the money for it.”
Hampstead relies on its residential property tax base to fund basic infrastructure and public services. Like in many municipalities, taxpayers have been pushed to the limit. And the only realistic new sources of revenue for the city, without incurring the wrath of voters, must come from new development.
But hemmed in by railway tracks to the north, the city of Côte-St-Luc to the west and the Montreal borough of Cote-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grace to the south and east, Hampstead has few opportunities for major revenue-generating construction — unless it decides to build up.
So Hampstead, where the median household income according to the town’s 2016 census profile is $122,496 has apparently decided to fund its new amenities at the expense of citizens who live on the literal and figurative margins.
Those being evicted for the new project include seniors, children, families and the disabled. They cherish their affordable rental apartments in a prime neighbourhood, as well as the strong sense of community that’s developed among those who call the three-storey apartment blocks home.
The owner — a numbered company that lists a Toronto real estate promoter as its main shareholder — may be trying to ease the blow by offering moving allowances, stipends, help finding new homes and the chance to live in the handful of units to be set aside at below-market rents in the new building. While certainly better than the underhanded tactics of some Montreal landlords, writing cheques to the dispossessed can never compensate them for all they are losing. They will most likely be scattered to the wind and exiled from Hampstead.
The owner also hired Jonathan Goldbloom, a prominent communications consultant, to make the case that the modern, 90-unit apartment complex slated for the site is “fulfilling a need” in the local marketplace.
There may indeed be a need for more rental units in Montreal, as housing prices soar, condo towers transform the landscape and our history as a paradise for renters is put to the test. But not when it comes at the expense of increasingly scarce affordable housing.
The 26 apartments that already exist in the brick buildings on Côte-St-Luc Rd. are exactly the kind of modest dwellings the city and region desperately need. They may be old, but they are livable and appreciated.
There is plenty of derelict housing in and around Montreal, where tenants endure non-functioning toilets, mould and pests, simply because they have nowhere else to go. Some buildings are deliberately allowed to deteriorate in order to expedite plans to bulldoze old structures and raise shiny, lucrative, new projects.
But that’s not what is being demolished here.
Amid a real estate boom, the conversion of apartment stock to short-term tourism rentals, the exodus of families to off-island suburbs and the race by various levels of government to fund affordable housing projects, tearing down perfectly good rental buildings is ludicrous.
But apparently money talks in Hampstead, especially if the developer has enough to offer parting gifts to the outcasts to ease everyone’s conscience. The garden city may be greener than ever, but not for those perched precariously on the edge of town.