Montreal unveils 2025 budget with new spending for housing, homelessness
MONTREAL — The City of Montreal is promising to speed up construction permits, raise taxes on owners of vacant lots and spend tens of millions more dollars to help develop affordable housing as part of its 2025 budget.
The $7.28-billion budget unveiled Wednesday by Mayor Valérie Plante includes a promise to increase the city’s housing department budget by $100 million over the next three years as its moves to build more subsidized housing.
The city also plans to add more building inspectors, increase aid to tenants rights organizations and continue to buy up rooming houses that offer low-cost housing. As of Jan. 1, the city will set a maximum of 120 days to issue a building permit.
Plante told a news conference that the budget is “historic” in terms of spending committed to housing. The city’s goal is to have 20 per cent of the city’s housing stock be social or affordable by 2025, she said.