Fight the hike

>> Plateau Mont-Royal residents rail against excessive tax increases

by NAOMI BLOCH

Until a few years ago, affordable housing in the Plateau Mont-Royal was ripe for the picking, but all that has changed over the last five years. As the vacancy rate dropped to under one per cent, tenants saw their bargaining power with landlords diminish to almost nothing, fighting Toronto-style battles for the last available apartment come July 1.

This turn in the real estate market has been a true bonanza for the City of Montreal, allowing land speculation to take off and making the city richer on paper. But while property sharks may be kicking up their heels, small-time Plateau landowners and their tenants are bearing the brunt.

Last Tuesday the city released its 2001 budget celebrating an overall reduction in taxes for two-thirds of the city. Plateau Mont-Royal was not so fortunate, with property taxes increasing by up to 30 per cent in some cases. Though these increases are being phased in over three years, housing activists fear that the budget will lead to ever-increasing rent hikes, eliminating even more of the city's already negligible affordable housing.

"Thirty per cent of the Plateau's population survive off of government aid," says Pierre Marquis, director of the Comité du logement du Plateau Mont-Royal. "It's a region split in half between the very rich and the very poor. All we are asking of the government is to be equitable in their approach to housing."

For the past two weeks, the Comité has been circulating a petition asking the government to apply a ceiling on property-tax increases to a maximum of five per cent--a ceiling that already legally applies to the city as a whole, but is currently being circumvented in Plateau Mont-Royal since the overall municipal budget undercuts that limit. They are also asking for an improvement in tax refunds. "The current criteria for a refund are so low that they help only the poorest of the poor," says Marquis. "We believe it would be possible to expand the critiera to apply to a larger segment of the population."

While the petitioners have a legal leg to stand on for some of their demands, they are also putting pressure on the government to limit speculation. "There are a lot of people who want to finish their days in this neighbourhood but who are being put in the situation where they can't meet their tax bills," says Mile-End City Councillor Helen Fotopulos. "A serious administration would have recognized it and done something about it--like the variable rates used for new property values. But Bourque's treating all Plateau citizens indiscriminately."

Earlier this year, the Régie du logement made it clear that they would concede to more substantial rent increases in 2001 than this year. "These tax increases have to be absorbed by somebody, so the landlord passes it down to the tenant," vents Fotopulos. "This budget is basically forcing the landowners to sell and the tenants to move."

The petition, which garnered around 7,500 signatures in just 10 days, was presented to city council this week. Marquis intends to use continuing pressure to force protective measures at both the provincial and municipal levels. "It's the less fortunate who're getting shafted," says Marquis. "But we're ready to duke it out."

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