104 social housing units under construction

The project, initiated by Coopérative de solidarité en habitation de Laval, will allow for construction over the next 12 months of two buildings, five stories each. The first, located at Des Laurentides Blvd. and Meunier St. West in Laval-des-Rapids, will have 44 units. The second, a building with 60 apartments, is planned for the intersection of Des Laurentides Blvd. and Prud’homme St. in Auteuil.

For now, the project is at the conditional stage. “When we arrive at this point, the project is said to be viable,” said Mr. Verret. The SHQ has already received and analyzed the project, and the Fédération de coopératives d'habitation intermunicipale de Montréal métropolitain (FECHIMM) has been chosen as the technical resource group recognized by the SHQ.

The FECHIMM will act as an intermediary between the city and the SHQ.

“We are at the stage of seeking tenders which will allow us to get the final prices and a contractor,” said Mr. Verret.

The SHQ subsidizes the project in the amount of $7.4 million, the equivalent of 50% of the project costs approved by the ACL’s $14.7 million. The Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) defrays 15% of the total amount. The remaining 35% of the costs will be mortgaged with a guarantee by the SHQ, and the mortgage being repaid by the rents.

At the SHQ, Maxime Fortier, head of the service Programme de rénovation des vieux quartiers (PRVQ), explained that a city must propose the zones it wants to be covered by the program so that the SHQ can then approve them. “The PRQ can’t be everywhere in a city,” said Mr. Fortier. The SHQ verifies if the city has targeted disadvantaged areas within the city or their territory as a whole. We can’t accept that the PRQ be everywhere, because all the zones in a city aren’t disadvantaged.”

Marc Laforge, spokesman for the City of Laval, confirmed that the municipality had already requested that the PRQ be applicable across the city. The PRQ stated that was not permitted, so the city was forced to choose disadvantaged zones.

The PRQ will therefore cover the 44 units to be built in Laval-des-Rapides.

The PRQ is financed by a 15-year loan covenant in the amount of $602,862, of which 50% is defrayed by the city and 50% by the SHQ. The amount contributed by the SHQ will not be released before the definitive decision concerning the project is taken which should be by mid-October.