Montreal housing groups call for more abandoned buildings to be turned into social housing

Housing groups are calling for more vacant buildings to be turned into social housing, as many pose a fire risk.

The Montreal fire department is concerned about the increasing number of abandoned buildings, which they say pose a fire risk, while housing groups argue that the space could be put to good use.

One such building is the former Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant on Beaubien Street near 10th Avenue in Rosemont, which sat empty for 13 years until a fire destroyed most of it a week ago.

Montreal’s fire department suspects squatters likely started the fire.

“Oftentimes it’s a situation where squatters will get in, maybe build a fire… sometimes just to warm themselves up. But I mean, there’s a situation where these people might be intoxicated and may fall asleep, fires on unsupervised, and then things go downhill from there,” said Guy Lapointe of the Montreal fire department.

Several abandoned buildings have been destroyed by fire in recent years.

The fire department says it’s up to owners to ensure buildings are secure enough to avoid collapse and to prevent squatters from entering.

“A lot of times what will happen is we’ll get complaints either from citizens or we’ll get information from the Montreal police and then we’ll go visit the premises,” said Lapointe.

For years, housing committees have lobbied the city to purchase vacant buildings from owners and turn them into social housing for low-income people.

Montreal regularly does so, but activists say there are no real incentives to sell.

“So a lot of them will either wait for the vacant lot to take value and then resell or wait for the winning conditions for them to maximize their investments and build for-profit housing,” said Arnaud Duplessis of the Rosemont Housing Committee.

The owners of the lot on Beaubien couldn’t be reached for comment, but local residents told CTV News that they hope the building’s destruction will at least lead to the construction of something useful.