Montreal announces 1st step in developing affordable housing on Blue Bonnets site

Long awaited plans to turn a derelict horse racing track in the city's west end into a thriving neighbourhood with hundreds of affordable housing units is finally getting underway this fall, officials announced Monday.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante says in a statement that the city is demonstrating its commitment to "ensuring the quality of life of Montrealers and future generations" with this plan to build more than 200 affordable housing units in a carbon-neutral project.

These new units will be part of the larger complex that will include at least 6,000 residences on the 43-hectare Blue Bonnets Raceway site.

If everything goes as planned, construction of the new units should start by 2025 and the city has set aside $58.5 million for the project.

Located in Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce, the Blue Bonnets Raceway, later named Hippodrome de Montréal, closed in 2009 and has been largely unused since. Montreal took over the property in 2017.

Over the last couple years, plans to build a neighbourhood, known as the Quartier Namur-Hippodrome, have been solidifying as housing advocates and local politicians push for an affordable, eco-friendly development that connects to the nearby Namur Metro station.

The city says the project will focus on carbon neutrality, sustainable mobility and local services, while leaving a large space for nature.

Calling on non-profits to propose projects

On Monday, members of the Plante administration were on site, telling reporters they want non-profit organizations to propose a carbon-neutral, affordable-housing project for a section of land on the eastern side of the site near the intersection of Jean-Talon and des Jockeys streets.

"The development of the former racetrack represents a perfect opportunity for experimentation in order to find promising and reproducible solutions to accelerate the construction of affordable housing in Montreal," said Benoit Dorais, vice chair of Montreal's executive committee and the councillor responsible for housing.

The projects proposed by non-profit housing groups will be evaluated according to certain criteria, the city says. That criteria will be released in detail when the official call for tenders is announced in September. Once a project is selected, the sector will be sold for development.

The sale of the land must be finalized by October 2023, in accordance with the agreement which allowed the City of Montreal to take over the property five years ago.

In the meantime, planning for the entire Namur-Hippodrome district is continuing and a master plan for its development is being drawn up, the city says.

Robert Beaudry, the executive committee member responsible for urban planning, said measures have already been taken to integrate the recommendations of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal into the project. 

Borough mayor says city exploring its options

Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–NDG, said the city will be looking at different ways to develop social and affordable housing as the project develops.

"The planning process is continuing, with the contribution of local organizations, in order to materialize our ambitious vision of making it a complete neighbourhood for thousands of Montreal families," she says in a statement.

On Monday, she said the project "prioritizes affordable, community and family housing and promotes greater social diversity."

While the city is doing what it can, Dorais said the provincial government needs to chip in as well.

"We will continue to buy properties to make sure there will be social housing but the government of Quebec also has to continue to finance social housing," he said.

"Right now they're not financing social housing at the right level. They are making an effort, but they have to increase that effort."

Coun. Sonny Moroz of the Snowdon district is Ensemble Montréal's housing spokesperson. He said the Plante administration is doing a last-minute job on the development of the Hippodrome site. 

"How is it that after five years, the Plante administration has only announced the bare minimum to avoid having the land taken over by the government of Quebec?" He said. 

"At this point, a serious administration that is committed to the ecological transition would have presented a clear vision for the redevelopment of the vacant area, including housing, mobility, urban agriculture, along with a defined timeline."

He said Plante's "piecemeal management" of this strategic area is not acceptable nor beneficial to Montrealers.