Benny Farm parent trap

While two sides war over Benny Farm, a 13-acre plot of empty tenements in NDG, a group of 30 low-income families who had hoped to move into a co-op on the site are running out of options. Facing off are Fonds foncier communautaire Benny Farm, which hopes to turn the land and its 300 empty units into social housing, and city administrators and developers who critics feel are ignoring the pressing need for social housing. The social housing project, which Benny Farm’s landlord rejected last October, includes ZOO, the young family co-op thought up by Heads & Hands’ Young Parents’ Program in NDG.

“I’d really like the government to open their eyes and make sure housing is available,” says Loretta Lawrence, a married mother of five who was slated to move into ZOO, and is now having difficulty paying rent.

The president of ZOO says NDG is full of young families like Lawrence’s. “I know families in 3 1/2s where everybody sleeps in the same room or the mom doesn’t have a bed,” says Lahreal Everett. “They have to weigh, ‘Do I pay hydro or buy food this month?’”
“We trust Fonds foncier much more than some politician who might be concerned with getting re-elected and might want to repay favours to someone who helped pay for their election campaign,” adds Gabriela Richman, co-ordinator of the Young Parents’ Program. “Many landlords discriminate against young parents. Affordable housing is urgently needed.” :
—Craig Segal