Quebec picks developer to build 1,001 affordable housing units

The Société de développement Angus (SDA), a developer and non-profit, is gearing up to build 1,001 new housing units across Montreal and Rimouski, elected officials announced Friday.

It will receive nearly $193.5 million in government funding — roughly half of the estimated costs of the project. 

The units are part of Quebec's previously announced plan to build 8,000 social and affordable housing units over the next six years.

Financing comes in part from the $900 million in federal funding Quebec received to speed up construction of affordable housing in the province as well as the funding pledged during the economic update last November. Montreal and Rimouski, a city in Quebec's Bas-Saint-Laurent region, will contribute to the projects on their respective territories.

At a news conference in Montreal Friday, Quebec Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau said the SDA was chosen as the Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ)'s inaugural "qualified developer" — a new designation to accelerate financial assistance applications for developers building affordable housing units.

"It's a partner that we can trust that is able to deliver housing within time and on budget," Duranceau said of the SDA, noting the experienced group has "proven by prior projects that it can deliver."

Besides relying on government funding, the SDA will also be taking out a $180-million loan from Mouvement Desjardins for the project. 

Most of the units will be built in Montreal, with 352 in the Technopôle Angus district, in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough and 325 more planned for the Écoquartier Louvain in Ahuntsic. 

The remaining 324 will be in Rimouski. Each unit will range from one to three bedrooms.  

Construction in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie is slated to start before the end of the year while the project in Ahuntsic should start in the summer of 2025. 

Affordability 'ensured' for 35 years 

The funding agreement guarantees affordability of the units for at least 35 years. 

By government standards, affordable housing corresponds to rent costing no more than 30 per cent of a person's income, Duranceau said. 

Véronique Laflamme, a spokesperson for the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) — a housing rights advocacy group — said in a statement published Friday that the group takes with issue the Quebec government not prioritizing a social housing program while thousands of eligible households are on waitlists. 

She said the creation of the "qualified developer" status will likely lead to lobbying taking precedence over the quality of projects. 

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"If there is money, as the minister claims, can we allow housing offices or other social and community housing project leaders to compete on the same track?" she said. 

For Richard Shearmur, an urban planning professor at McGill University, while the selection process may raise suspicions for some, choosing a "well-established developer with a track record" is one way of way of reducing risks and costs because the units "stand a chance of coming out of the ground in the next few years." 

"The more you delay, the more costs rise, the more uncertainty there is," he said. "No policy is perfect, but in the context of a housing emergency, I do think that this is a very positive move."