The city of Montreal has granted a condo developer a permit to tear down a building despite the sole remaining tenant there saying she hasn’t settled on compensation for her eviction.
Last spring, the city told developer Mondev it would have to reach an agreement with the tenant if it wanted to go ahead with plans to build a 16-storey complex with 176 units at the corner of Ste-Catherine and St-Hubert streets in downtown Montreal.
For 11 years, Carla White has lived in a small one-bedroom apartment at the rear of the building which housed the former Da Giovanni restaurant, across the street from Place Émilie Gamelin. Mondev now has the right to demolish the building.
“We don’t understand why. Nothing’s been settled,” said her lawyer, Manuel Johnson.
The company’s original offer to White was $20,000 and another apartment with the same rent she now pays, but when White asked if she could view a different unit than the one it was offering to her, Johnson says the developer went dark.
“There’s no dwelling that’s being offered to her now. And currently what’s being offered to her is $1,200 in compensation,” the equivalent of three months rent, Johnson said.
White’s fight to conserve her $400 monthly rent gained international media attention last year and became a symbol of resistance at a time when affordable apartments are few and far between, and new condo developments are seen to be contributing to rising rents.
‘Nothing to lose’
“It’s not her fault there’s no social housing available; the waiting lists are so long. Somebody who has nothing to lose, they’re going to fight back,” said Johnson, adding he and his client are considering pursuing legal action against the city to have the demolition permit declared invalid.
In a statement, the city said Mondev had demonstrated that “several relocation options” had been presented to White and that “therefore, the permit has been granted. We still hope for an agreement between the tenant and the promoter and for the project to move forward and revitalize the area.”
Johnson disputes that claim and says White had security concerns related to the unit Mondev offered her.
Michael Owen, a senior partner at Mondev, said in an interview Thursday that White had made unreasonable demands after she saw the unit his company was offering her and that it appeared she was instead interested in a larger sum of money than it was willing to pay.
“We offered her a renovated apartment about two blocks from there at the same price,” Owen said. “She wanted a penthouse on the 20th floor with a view to the west and a large terrace.”
“The rich win and the poor become powerless,” White said, adding she’d visited other apartments but all were more than three times what she paid per month. She said she refused Mondev’s initial offer because “with $20,000, I will be homeless within a year. Do the math.”
Visible homelessness and drug use in the neighbourhood near Berri-UQAM Metro increased during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting complaints from nearby residents and merchants.
Mondev struggled for years to get the city to approve its development after it purchased the property before the pandemic, but Owen believes the neighbourhood’s growing issues helped turn things around. He said once the 16-storey building goes up, the company has plans to develop a second phase of the project on nearby Labelle Street.
Johnson, White’s lawyer, said the city appears to be putting the interests of private developers ahead of those of a vulnerable tenant.
Thursday, White sat at small desk by a window in her tiny apartment. A bed with a rattan headboard stood close behind her, with a bookshelf towering over it. Colourful frames, a Japanese folding fan and a few mirrors adorned the yellow walls. Large house plants and piles of books filled the small but cozy room.
White was in and out of homelessness before she moved into her apartment in 2013.
“When I found this, I thought, ‘It’s a gold mine. I can make this work.’ And guess what, I’ve been making this work for the past 11 years,” said White, whose only income is a monthly social assistance payment.
“I do like the city improving, growing … but at what cost? It has left people behind. I’m going to be — I’ve been left behind,” she said.