2023-07-28 04:00:00
Skyscrapers of 50 floors in the suburbs, neighborhoods razed to the profit of denser new constructions, citizens evicted to make way for progress; is this what awaits Montreal once the REM is in service? At least that’s what happens around the SkyTrain in Vancouver, found The newspaper.
In the suburbs of Vancouver, those who now live near SkyTrain stations are not necessarily those who use transit or really need it.
“We won hundreds of homes, but they are hundreds of millionaires,” says Murray Martin, an activist at ACORN British Columbia who has lived in Burnaby for 30 years.
Until the early 2010s, the Metrotown area, located along the SkyTrain route, consisted mostly of low-rise, three-story apartment buildings, with low-income residents.
But since then, thousands of “demovictions”, as ACORN dubbed them, have been made to allow the construction of huge towers.
In these buildings, which are nearly 30 minutes by train from downtown Vancouver, a two-bedroom condo easily costs more than a million dollars.
This boarded up building is waiting to be demolished to make way for new condos. Photo Dominique Cambron-Goulet
“The issue is who can live in these towers? raises Andy Yan, professor of urban studies at Simon Fraser University. Are they family friendly? They are largely made up of studio and one-bedroom units. Often, when children grow up, people move further into the region [du grand Vancouver].»
The richest win
In a study published in 2020, economists Alex Chernoff and Andrea Craig indicated that the wealthiest households benefited the most from SkyTrain extensions.
“People were coming here because it was close to the train and they needed it to go to work, but they were pushed back 30 minutes on the bus or further. In the streets, we see Teslas, Range Rovers, these people may use the train, but certainly do not need it, ”judge Murray Martin.
Luxury cars like Range Rovers and Teslas are plentiful in the now gentrified Metrotown neighborhood. Photo Dominique Cambron-Goulet
In Burnaby, the SkyTrain entered service in 1985, in preparation for the 1986 Vancouver World’s Fair.
But it’s only been about ten years since condo towers sprouted there like mushrooms, due to zoning changes to create TODs (transit oriented development), these dense neighborhoods located near public transport.
“There’s a vision that TODs are attractive, that people want to live in a high-density area near public transit,” says Craig Jones, director of a housing research group at Columbia University. -British.
A vision shared in Quebec, moreover, since several TOD and densification projects are already underway in Brossard, Saint-Laurent and Deux-Montagnes, near future REM stations.
“There is also an environmental discourse around TODs. People don’t have to drive cars. It’s planning that makes sense, says Jones. But this logic is sometimes used to justify the demolition of affordable rental housing.”
Small three-storey rental buildings are gradually giving way to condos in the Burquitlam district. Photo Dominique Cambron-Goulet
And the refugees are moving
This is what the researcher observed in particular in the Burquitlam district of Coquitlam, a suburb in which the SkyTrain arrived in 2016.
“Without the train, we wouldn’t have this kind of development,” says Craig Jones, pointing to the heterogeneous panorama of new condo towers and old residential buildings, some of which are already boarded up for demolition.
“Between approximately 2016 and 2018, 500 rental units were taken off the market. In three years, 55% of the rental stock had disappeared,” he says.
Geography professor Craig Jones has studied the case of razed modest apartment buildings in Coquitlam. Photo Dominique Cambron-Goulet
For his studies, he met tenants who had been evicted from a building complex to make way for condos.
“There were a lot of refugees, including several Syrians, because this complex had an agreement with immigration services,” explains Mr. Jones.
Some newcomers struggled to find an affordable alternative.
“There was a lot of concern,” recalls the expert.
Where have all these people gone who cannot afford new homes?
“It’s hard to say, but it’s possible they went to Surrey [une banlieue plus éloignée] or in surrounding neighborhoods where we see slight increases in recent immigrant populations, particularly Syrians,” says Craig Jones.
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