by KEN HECHTMAN

"We're not asking the government for more social housing," says Lucien Chiasson of the anti-poverty group Comité des sans-emploi. "They've promised it so many times and reneged so many times. We're asking people to organize themselves and take what they need."

On July 5, activists from the Comité, the Convergence des luttes anti-capitalistes (CLAC) and the Ahuntsic Housing Committee will do just that, building a tent city at an as-yet undisclosed location in Montreal.

Trust in the government's ability to solve the housing crisis is thin among housing activists on the ground these days: a news item buried inside an early June edition of the little green Métro tabloid announced that the Quebec Rental Board had privatized its rent-setting function to the multinational Roche Ltd. Consulting Group. It's only a small part of Roche's business, but they do manage residential properties and that, activists say, puts them in a conflict of interest.

The city came under its share of criticism as well in regards to the common practice of speculators selling condo units long before the public hearing on the permit to build them is held, Karina Chagnon of CLAC says, "The city councillors are just as bought and paid for as the condos."

Overheated rhetoric notwithstanding, a survey of Access-Montréal's brochure racks at city hall turns up nothing on how to refuse an illegal rent increase, ask a city inspector to look at your building or get on the waiting list for social housing. What they do publish is a colour-glossy pamphlet telling first-time condo-buyers how they can get in on the ground floor of soon-to-be gentrified neighbourhoods. As well, on June 11, the city's executive committee pushed through a self-proclaimed "carrot-and-stick" policy aimed at street youth which includes zero-tolerance enforcement of park curfews.

None of these measures have instilled activists with a feeling of confidence in the city's approach to housing.

Building on foundations

The July 5 event, which will leave Parc Lafontaine at noon, will draw on experience garnered from other similar occurences. Sarah Vance and Stefan Pilipa of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) share their experience with Toronto's 1999 Safe Park tent city and last summer's Pope Squat (so named because it was opened during the Pope's visit to Toronto). Among their recommendations: "Don't just sit there waiting for the cops. Use the place as a base for other events. Promote it, publicize it and keep it visible."

Kara Sievewright, from Vancouver's Anti-Poverty Committee, notes that their autumn 2002 tent city lasted for three months, but the experience of community and power among the 100–200 homeless people who stayed there lasted far longer. She suggested not losing touch with the tent city residents.

All agree that timing is critical. According to Pilipa, the Pope Squat survived because the city was reluctant to have the image of police violence contrast with the Pope's message of peace. This summer's tent city is scheduled for the closing weekend of the Jazz Fest, the height of Montreal's tourist season.

The lessons learned from Montreal's own July–August 2001 Overdale squat, opened by Sans-emploi and CLAC, fill a 24-page booklet. Their take on the experience is that they were victims of their own success. They never expected to keep the Overdale building past the first night. Consequently, they didn't plan in advance how to manage the business of communal living and had to figure it out on the spot. They never expected that the mayor of Montreal would offer them (however temporarily) the Préfontaine Centre in trade.

Gearing up for confrontation

A debate had been held within the organizing groups to decide where to set up the tent city. One side wanted the visibility and relative safety of public land, such as a city park. The other held out for a privately owned lot, in order to challenge the principle of private property. Chiasson wouldn't say which side won.

Meanwhile, executive committee press attaché Darren Becker confirms that the activists and the city are on a collision course. "Protests have to be grounded in facts and I don't know what more the city can do," he says. "I can guarantee that someone from the city will be there to hear their complaints, but after that, when push comes to shove and municipal bylaws are broken, municipal bylaws will be enforced."