By Canadian Press

Montreal unveils 2025 budget with new spending for housing, homelessness

Nov 20, 2024 | 1:16 PM

MONTREAL — The City of Montreal is promising to speed up construction permits, raise taxes on owners of vacant lots and spend tens of millions of dollars more to help develop affordable housing as part of its 2025 budget.

The $7.28 billion budget unveiled today 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.

Montreal’s budget includes an additional $3 million for fighting homelessness, bringing the total budget to nearly $10 million.

The spending will be financed in part by property tax increases that will average 2.2 per cent for residential buildings and 1.9 per cent for non-residential.

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Plante says the city is also waiving a fee that non-profits and community organizations pay in lieu of property taxes, which she says amounts to $10.5 million in savings per year for 700 organizations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press