The City of Montreal has cancelled plans to build 30 modular housing units on a vacant lot in Outremont, citing soil contamination and escalating costs, a decision that has drawn criticism from opposition politicians and housing advocates.
The project would have added a third modular housing site in the city, joining similar developments in Ahuntsic-Cartierville and at the former Hippodrome site in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough. The city had already spent about $1 million preparing the Outremont property for the installation of the units.
Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said the project was no longer financially viable due to the level of decontamination required at the site.
“For a modular home to really work, it has to be under a hundred thousand dollars a door,” she said. “The project we had on our hands was over two hundred thousand, because they didn’t take into account the decontamination.”
The opposition at city hall says it does not understand why the project was abandoned, especially as Montreal continues to grapple with housing affordability and homelessness.
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“For me it’s absolutely unacceptable,” said opposition housing critic Élise Tanguay.
Tanguay argued modular housing offered a quick solution to increase the supply of transitional housing.
“We must build. We must build fast and that was an easy way, and a fast way to build more housing for homeless people,” she said.
The city maintains contamination concerns ultimately led to the decision to cancel the project. Opposition members note the land was decontaminated in 2013, but city officials say that cleanup did not bring the property up to standards required for residential use.
“Decontamination doesn’t mean it was decontaminated to the level of residential,” Martinez Ferrada said.
Outremont borough Mayor Laurent Desbois said in a social media post that testing revealed potential Type C or D contamination on the site. Residential developments, whether temporary or permanent, require a Type B rating.
Environmental toxicologist Daniel Green said soil classified as Type A is considered clean, while Type B reflects normal urban contamination levels.
“When you start getting C and D then you start getting soils that are too dangerous,” Green said.
Despite those concerns, the opposition remains unconvinced the project should have been cancelled, pointing out that a small community farm already operates on the same parcel of land.
Community organizations also expressed disappointment, saying neighbourhoods such as Parc-Extension are in urgent need of more transitional housing.
Advocates point to the death of homeless migrant Manjeet Singh earlier this year as an example of the consequences of inadequate shelter options.
“One of the findings that came out of the coroner’s report was that hypothermia was a major contributor to his death,” said Amy Darwish of the Parc Extension Action Committee.
“In other words, if there had been a warming shelter, if there had been a shelter, if there had been transitional housing that he could have gone to, he would not have died.”
Community groups are now urging the city to identify an alternative site or develop another plan to deliver additional transitional housing units.