The City of Montreal has swooped in to acquire a rooming house in the Sud-Ouest borough before it could be sold to a private entity.
It’s something officials are doing more and more by using the right of first refusal.
The city is using the legal power to help keep rents low and make a dent in the housing crisis.
“One year ago, we decided to protect rooming houses and that’s why we are use a new tool, a new legal tool, the right of first refusal,” said Sud-Ouest borough mayor Benoit Dorais.
The building, newly acquired by the city, is a seven-unit rooming house on Centre Street in Pointe-Saint-Charles where vulnerable tenants are paying low rents.
The landlord had an offer on the table to sell the building for $1,385,000, but using the right of first refusal, the city was able to match it and force the owner to sell the building to them instead.
Viken Gulumian, who told Global News he was the owner of the building, said a bailiff showed up at his door one day.
“They explained to me that the city has the right to buy it and so forth,” he said.
It’s something the city is doing more and more in order to prevent affordable housing units from getting into the hands of private interests, which could lead to rent increases or renovictions.
“It’s very important for us to to purchase that kind of building because these are the most vulnerable people,” said Dorais.
Welcome Hall Mission CEO Sam Watts called the city’s latest acquisition “good news” and said protecting rooming houses is a key in the fight against homelessness.
“If someone’s in a rooming house, we know who they are, we know where they are and in many instances we can help them either stay where they are or start the process of getting into a spot where they’re more permanently housed, more securely,” Watts said.
The city has been employing the right of first refusal since 2022, and has acquired five buildings so far.
The owner of the latest one didn’t lose any money by selling to the city instead of a private buyer, but thinks there are other ways to keep vulnerable people housed.
‘They can put up the minimum wage for everybody and lessen the taxes on people,” said Gulumian, explaining that rising expenses make it difficult for landlords to keep rents low and still profit from their investments.
The city, however, sees this as a winning strategy that they will continue to use. The goal is to get the building into the hands of a non-profit by next year so it can be turned into social housing where rents will stay cheap for good.
Comments