FR : Dans cet article, l’objectif est de présenter les initiatives mises en place localement par ... more FR : Dans cet article, l’objectif est de présenter les initiatives mises en place localement par les organismes communautaires pour lutter contre le mal-logement au sein de deux quartiers tremplins d’immigration de Montréal. Basé sur une méthodologie qualitative, il s’appuie sur un travail d’observation participante mené pendant près de trois ans comme bénévole au sein de deux organismes de défense des droits des locataires, le Comité d’action de Parc-Extension (CAPE) et le Bureau Info Logement (BIL) de Saint-Michel. La recherche mobilise également l’analyse d’une trentaine d’entretiens semi-directifs conduits auprès de différents professionnels du secteur du logement dans les deux quartiers. Dans les quartiers Parc-Extension et Saint-Michel, les résidents, pour la plupart des travailleurs pauvres immigrants, font face à de nombreux problèmes d’insalubrité et de surpeuplement des logements, mais aussi aux impacts des dynamiques de gentrification qui s’opèrent dans ces espaces de transit. Pour répondre à ces différents enjeux et compenser le manque d’intervention criant des pouvoirs publics, les organismes communautaires se mobilisent et proposent des réponses innovantes allant de l’accompagnement individuel des locataires à la promotion du logement social à travers des manifestations dans l’espace public, en passant par la participation aux projets de développement de logements communautaires adaptés aux besoins des ménages. Cependant, alors que le tiers-secteur semble jouer un rôle de plus en plus important à l’échelle locale, on peut se demander si cette prise en charge des problèmes de mal-logement par les organismes communautaires ne participe pas à légitimer le manque d’intervention des acteurs institutionnels dans le secteur.
EN : The aim of this paper is to present the initiatives implemented locally by community organizations to fight against poor housing in two transitional immigrant neighborhoods of Montreal. Based on a qualitative methodology, it uses participatory observation carried out over three years as a volunteer with two tenants’ rights organizations, the Parc-Extension Action Committee, and the Bureau Info Logement in Saint-Michel. The research also mobilizes the analysis of about thirty semi-structured interviews conducted with various professionals in the housing sector in the two neighborhoods. In Parc-Extension and Saint-Michel, residents, most of whom are working poor immigrants, face many problems of insalubrity and overcrowding, but also the impacts of the gentrification dynamics taking place in these transit areas. To meet these different challenges and to compensate for the lack of intervention by public authorities, community organizations are mobilizing and proposing innovative responses ranging from individual support for tenants to the promotion of social housing through protests in the public space, and participation in community housing development projects adapted to the needs of households. However, while the third sector seems to be playing an increasingly important role at the local level, one may wonder whether this approach to the problems of poor housing by community organizations does not help to legitimize the lack of intervention by institutional stakeholders in the sector.
Cette recherche de géographie urbaine et sociale vise à analyser les trajectoires et les stratégi... more Cette recherche de géographie urbaine et sociale vise à analyser les trajectoires et les stratégies résidentielles des familles immigrantes avec enfants à l'aune des politiques publiques de logement et de la restructuration des marchés locaux de l'habitat dans deux quartiers de Montréal. Les territoires d'étude comparés sont deux inner suburbs montréalais en transformation. Espaces de transition entre la ville d'avant-guerre et d'après-guerre et caractérisés par une population majoritaire de locataires immigrants à faible revenu, Saint-Michel et Parc-Extension sont décrits par les chercheur·se·s en sciences sociales comme des « quartiers tremplins » censés favoriser la mobilité sociale et/ou spatiale des nouveaux et nouvelles arrivant·e·s. Alors qu'ils ont longtemps servi de simples points de transit, les familles immigrantes s'y établissent aujourd'hui de manière plus durable. Or, depuis la fin des années 1990, de nouveaux plans de développement urba...
This article explores a case of campus-led neighborhood change that weaves together an analysis o... more This article explores a case of campus-led neighborhood change that weaves together an analysis of gentrification, studentification and displacement. Contributing to the understanding of displacement pressure, this empirical study employs a temporal perspective and an innovative mixed method that captures the shifting state of the rental market and the perceptions of neighborhood change as understood by immigrant and low-income residents of Parc-Extension. We analyze how studentification is promoted in a campus-led gentrification case study, showing how both gentrification and studentification participate in the rise of evictions and displacement pressures for long term residents. By documenting the residential experience in rental housing through semi-structured interviews and data mining of rental listings on a popular platform in Canada (Kijiji), we propose an empirical perspective on displacement pressure and contribute to the development of this concept in gentrification and studentification studies. The article begins by reviewing the literature on gentrification-induced displacement, displacement pressure, state-led gentrification and studentification. This is followed by contextualizing our Montréal case study. We then outline our mixed methodologies and explain our data collection by web-scraping and fieldwork modalities. Finally, we discuss our results showing how the mechanism of displacement pressure can be linked with studentification and new-build, campus-led gentrification.
The Parc-Extension neighborhood is located to the North of the Montreal downtown core, and is bor... more The Parc-Extension neighborhood is located to the North of the Montreal downtown core, and is bordered by Town of Mount-Royal (to the West), Outremont and Marconi-Alexandra (to the South), Rosemont (to the East) and shopping district Marché Central to the North. Parc-Extension has a high proportion of low-income immigrant and racialized residents, and a strong community network. In September 2019, the Université de Montréal opened its new Campus MIL on the south edge of the neighborhood. Residents of Parc-Extension are already feeling the impact of the new campus, less than one year after the opening.
Key findings Housing. The opening of the new campus has caused rent hikes, evictions, and the displacement of residents, in a context characterized by low vacancy rates in Parc-Extension and in Montreal more broadly. Community. Community groups have been displaced and support networks are being destabilized. Studentification and professionalization. A specific form of gentrification is occurring, caused by an influx of Université de Montréal students to the neighborhood and a speculative housing market. This will accelerate a broader professionalization process in the neighbourhood: between censuses 2006 and 2016, the rate of people holding a B.A degree and more rose from 15% to 21% and the rate of households making 80 000 $ and more rose from 4.6% to 16.5%.
Missed opportunities Good intentions, little action. Despite public messaging, the Université de Montréal has failed to act or take responsibility for their impact on Parc-Extension. Student housing. The University included student housing in their initial plans, but has since sold this land to private developers. Lack of transparency. Many proactive attempts were made by the community to develop a mitigation strategy, but documentation shows the University has not meaningfully engaged with these efforts.
Moving forward Dialogue and mitigate. The authors call on the Université de Montréal to enter into dialogue and commit to using its position for mitigation. Many models. Many universities have taken leadership in partnering with local communities. The Université de Montréal can learn from them. Non-profit student housing. The University should offer on-campus student housing, and work with the government to develop a province-wide strategy for non-profit student housing. Collaborate and support. Identify, in collaboration with local community groups, ways for supporting projects that are already working to mitigate the problems that affect Parc-Extension, for example, community housing projects.
Logement : crises partout, justice nulle part ! L'objectif de cette conférence internationale en ... more Logement : crises partout, justice nulle part ! L'objectif de cette conférence internationale en anglais et français (avec traduction simultanée), est de penser la crise du logement de façon interdisciplinaire, comparative et à partir de cas d'études variés afin de partager savoirs et stratégies de mobilisations et de luttes. Adressé autant au milieu académique qu'aux groupes militants, cet appel souhaite contribuer à une réflexion collective sur la crise du logement et les logiques capitalistes qui l'alimentent, se traduisant par une augmentation sans précédent des évictions comme des coûts du logement. Le désengagement des États, la complaisance du politique envers les grandes sociétés de promotion immobilière, la financiarisation ou encore la plateformisation du logement sont autant de facteurs imbriqués, qui alimentent une crise durable de l'accès au logement, malgré les luttes citoyennes de plus en plus actives sur ces questions (lutte contre la gentrification, défense du droit au logement, grève des loyers, etc.). Le déplacement des habitant•e•s, la gentrification comme la touristification, et la spéculation mondialisés sont autant de symptômes d'une marchandisation accrue du logement, transformant un droit humain fondamental en actif financier et source d'accumulation parmi d'autres. Le Collectif de Recherche et d'ACtion sur l'Habitat (CRACH) est à l'origine de cet événement scientifique et militant. Le CRACH trouve son origine, il y a une dizaine d'années, dans une double insatisfaction : la faible circulation des savoirs entre milieux académiques et milieux militants d'abord, et l'incapacité ensuite des politiques publiques en matière de logement à s'attaquer réellement aux inégalités socio-spatiales et aux rapports de domination qui les fondent.
FR : Dans cet article, l’objectif est de présenter les initiatives mises en place localement par ... more FR : Dans cet article, l’objectif est de présenter les initiatives mises en place localement par les organismes communautaires pour lutter contre le mal-logement au sein de deux quartiers tremplins d’immigration de Montréal. Basé sur une méthodologie qualitative, il s’appuie sur un travail d’observation participante mené pendant près de trois ans comme bénévole au sein de deux organismes de défense des droits des locataires, le Comité d’action de Parc-Extension (CAPE) et le Bureau Info Logement (BIL) de Saint-Michel. La recherche mobilise également l’analyse d’une trentaine d’entretiens semi-directifs conduits auprès de différents professionnels du secteur du logement dans les deux quartiers. Dans les quartiers Parc-Extension et Saint-Michel, les résidents, pour la plupart des travailleurs pauvres immigrants, font face à de nombreux problèmes d’insalubrité et de surpeuplement des logements, mais aussi aux impacts des dynamiques de gentrification qui s’opèrent dans ces espaces de transit. Pour répondre à ces différents enjeux et compenser le manque d’intervention criant des pouvoirs publics, les organismes communautaires se mobilisent et proposent des réponses innovantes allant de l’accompagnement individuel des locataires à la promotion du logement social à travers des manifestations dans l’espace public, en passant par la participation aux projets de développement de logements communautaires adaptés aux besoins des ménages. Cependant, alors que le tiers-secteur semble jouer un rôle de plus en plus important à l’échelle locale, on peut se demander si cette prise en charge des problèmes de mal-logement par les organismes communautaires ne participe pas à légitimer le manque d’intervention des acteurs institutionnels dans le secteur.
EN : The aim of this paper is to present the initiatives implemented locally by community organizations to fight against poor housing in two transitional immigrant neighborhoods of Montreal. Based on a qualitative methodology, it uses participatory observation carried out over three years as a volunteer with two tenants’ rights organizations, the Parc-Extension Action Committee, and the Bureau Info Logement in Saint-Michel. The research also mobilizes the analysis of about thirty semi-structured interviews conducted with various professionals in the housing sector in the two neighborhoods. In Parc-Extension and Saint-Michel, residents, most of whom are working poor immigrants, face many problems of insalubrity and overcrowding, but also the impacts of the gentrification dynamics taking place in these transit areas. To meet these different challenges and to compensate for the lack of intervention by public authorities, community organizations are mobilizing and proposing innovative responses ranging from individual support for tenants to the promotion of social housing through protests in the public space, and participation in community housing development projects adapted to the needs of households. However, while the third sector seems to be playing an increasingly important role at the local level, one may wonder whether this approach to the problems of poor housing by community organizations does not help to legitimize the lack of intervention by institutional stakeholders in the sector.
Cette recherche de géographie urbaine et sociale vise à analyser les trajectoires et les stratégi... more Cette recherche de géographie urbaine et sociale vise à analyser les trajectoires et les stratégies résidentielles des familles immigrantes avec enfants à l'aune des politiques publiques de logement et de la restructuration des marchés locaux de l'habitat dans deux quartiers de Montréal. Les territoires d'étude comparés sont deux inner suburbs montréalais en transformation. Espaces de transition entre la ville d'avant-guerre et d'après-guerre et caractérisés par une population majoritaire de locataires immigrants à faible revenu, Saint-Michel et Parc-Extension sont décrits par les chercheur·se·s en sciences sociales comme des « quartiers tremplins » censés favoriser la mobilité sociale et/ou spatiale des nouveaux et nouvelles arrivant·e·s. Alors qu'ils ont longtemps servi de simples points de transit, les familles immigrantes s'y établissent aujourd'hui de manière plus durable. Or, depuis la fin des années 1990, de nouveaux plans de développement urba...
This article explores a case of campus-led neighborhood change that weaves together an analysis o... more This article explores a case of campus-led neighborhood change that weaves together an analysis of gentrification, studentification and displacement. Contributing to the understanding of displacement pressure, this empirical study employs a temporal perspective and an innovative mixed method that captures the shifting state of the rental market and the perceptions of neighborhood change as understood by immigrant and low-income residents of Parc-Extension. We analyze how studentification is promoted in a campus-led gentrification case study, showing how both gentrification and studentification participate in the rise of evictions and displacement pressures for long term residents. By documenting the residential experience in rental housing through semi-structured interviews and data mining of rental listings on a popular platform in Canada (Kijiji), we propose an empirical perspective on displacement pressure and contribute to the development of this concept in gentrification and studentification studies. The article begins by reviewing the literature on gentrification-induced displacement, displacement pressure, state-led gentrification and studentification. This is followed by contextualizing our Montréal case study. We then outline our mixed methodologies and explain our data collection by web-scraping and fieldwork modalities. Finally, we discuss our results showing how the mechanism of displacement pressure can be linked with studentification and new-build, campus-led gentrification.
The Parc-Extension neighborhood is located to the North of the Montreal downtown core, and is bor... more The Parc-Extension neighborhood is located to the North of the Montreal downtown core, and is bordered by Town of Mount-Royal (to the West), Outremont and Marconi-Alexandra (to the South), Rosemont (to the East) and shopping district Marché Central to the North. Parc-Extension has a high proportion of low-income immigrant and racialized residents, and a strong community network. In September 2019, the Université de Montréal opened its new Campus MIL on the south edge of the neighborhood. Residents of Parc-Extension are already feeling the impact of the new campus, less than one year after the opening.
Key findings Housing. The opening of the new campus has caused rent hikes, evictions, and the displacement of residents, in a context characterized by low vacancy rates in Parc-Extension and in Montreal more broadly. Community. Community groups have been displaced and support networks are being destabilized. Studentification and professionalization. A specific form of gentrification is occurring, caused by an influx of Université de Montréal students to the neighborhood and a speculative housing market. This will accelerate a broader professionalization process in the neighbourhood: between censuses 2006 and 2016, the rate of people holding a B.A degree and more rose from 15% to 21% and the rate of households making 80 000 $ and more rose from 4.6% to 16.5%.
Missed opportunities Good intentions, little action. Despite public messaging, the Université de Montréal has failed to act or take responsibility for their impact on Parc-Extension. Student housing. The University included student housing in their initial plans, but has since sold this land to private developers. Lack of transparency. Many proactive attempts were made by the community to develop a mitigation strategy, but documentation shows the University has not meaningfully engaged with these efforts.
Moving forward Dialogue and mitigate. The authors call on the Université de Montréal to enter into dialogue and commit to using its position for mitigation. Many models. Many universities have taken leadership in partnering with local communities. The Université de Montréal can learn from them. Non-profit student housing. The University should offer on-campus student housing, and work with the government to develop a province-wide strategy for non-profit student housing. Collaborate and support. Identify, in collaboration with local community groups, ways for supporting projects that are already working to mitigate the problems that affect Parc-Extension, for example, community housing projects.
Logement : crises partout, justice nulle part ! L'objectif de cette conférence internationale en ... more Logement : crises partout, justice nulle part ! L'objectif de cette conférence internationale en anglais et français (avec traduction simultanée), est de penser la crise du logement de façon interdisciplinaire, comparative et à partir de cas d'études variés afin de partager savoirs et stratégies de mobilisations et de luttes. Adressé autant au milieu académique qu'aux groupes militants, cet appel souhaite contribuer à une réflexion collective sur la crise du logement et les logiques capitalistes qui l'alimentent, se traduisant par une augmentation sans précédent des évictions comme des coûts du logement. Le désengagement des États, la complaisance du politique envers les grandes sociétés de promotion immobilière, la financiarisation ou encore la plateformisation du logement sont autant de facteurs imbriqués, qui alimentent une crise durable de l'accès au logement, malgré les luttes citoyennes de plus en plus actives sur ces questions (lutte contre la gentrification, défense du droit au logement, grève des loyers, etc.). Le déplacement des habitant•e•s, la gentrification comme la touristification, et la spéculation mondialisés sont autant de symptômes d'une marchandisation accrue du logement, transformant un droit humain fondamental en actif financier et source d'accumulation parmi d'autres. Le Collectif de Recherche et d'ACtion sur l'Habitat (CRACH) est à l'origine de cet événement scientifique et militant. Le CRACH trouve son origine, il y a une dizaine d'années, dans une double insatisfaction : la faible circulation des savoirs entre milieux académiques et milieux militants d'abord, et l'incapacité ensuite des politiques publiques en matière de logement à s'attaquer réellement aux inégalités socio-spatiales et aux rapports de domination qui les fondent.
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Papers by Chloé Reiser
EN : The aim of this paper is to present the initiatives implemented locally by community organizations to fight against poor housing in two transitional immigrant neighborhoods of Montreal. Based on a qualitative methodology, it uses participatory observation carried out over three years as a volunteer with two tenants’ rights organizations, the Parc-Extension Action Committee, and the Bureau Info Logement in Saint-Michel. The research also mobilizes the analysis of about thirty semi-structured interviews conducted with various professionals in the housing sector in the two neighborhoods. In Parc-Extension and Saint-Michel, residents, most of whom are working poor immigrants, face many problems of insalubrity and overcrowding, but also the impacts of the gentrification dynamics taking place in these transit areas. To meet these different challenges and to compensate for the lack of intervention by public authorities, community organizations are mobilizing and proposing innovative responses ranging from individual support for tenants to the promotion of social housing through protests in the public space, and participation in community housing development projects adapted to the needs of households. However, while the third sector seems to be playing an increasingly important role at the local level, one may wonder whether this approach to the problems of poor housing by community organizations does not help to legitimize the lack of intervention by institutional stakeholders in the sector.
Parc-Extension has a high proportion of low-income immigrant and racialized residents, and a strong community network.
In September 2019, the Université de Montréal opened its new Campus MIL on the south edge of the neighborhood.
Residents of Parc-Extension are already feeling the impact of the new campus, less than one year after the opening.
Key findings
Housing. The opening of the new campus has caused rent hikes, evictions, and the displacement of residents, in a context characterized by low vacancy rates in Parc-Extension and in Montreal more broadly.
Community. Community groups have been displaced and support networks are being destabilized.
Studentification and professionalization. A specific form of gentrification is occurring, caused by an influx of Université de Montréal students to the neighborhood and a speculative housing market. This will accelerate a broader professionalization process in the neighbourhood: between censuses 2006 and 2016, the rate of people holding a B.A degree and more rose from 15% to 21% and the rate of households making 80 000 $ and more rose from 4.6% to 16.5%.
Missed opportunities
Good intentions, little action. Despite public messaging, the Université de Montréal has failed to act or take responsibility for their impact on Parc-Extension.
Student housing. The University included student housing in their initial plans, but has since sold this land to private developers.
Lack of transparency. Many proactive attempts were made by the community to develop a mitigation strategy, but documentation shows the University has not meaningfully engaged with these efforts.
Moving forward
Dialogue and mitigate. The authors call on the Université de Montréal to enter into dialogue and commit to using its position for mitigation.
Many models. Many universities have taken leadership in partnering with local communities. The Université de Montréal can learn from them.
Non-profit student housing. The University should offer on-campus student housing, and work with the government to develop a province-wide strategy for non-profit student housing.
Collaborate and support. Identify, in collaboration with local community groups, ways for supporting projects that are already working to mitigate the problems that affect Parc-Extension, for example, community housing projects.
CFP / Appel à Communications by Chloé Reiser
EN : The aim of this paper is to present the initiatives implemented locally by community organizations to fight against poor housing in two transitional immigrant neighborhoods of Montreal. Based on a qualitative methodology, it uses participatory observation carried out over three years as a volunteer with two tenants’ rights organizations, the Parc-Extension Action Committee, and the Bureau Info Logement in Saint-Michel. The research also mobilizes the analysis of about thirty semi-structured interviews conducted with various professionals in the housing sector in the two neighborhoods. In Parc-Extension and Saint-Michel, residents, most of whom are working poor immigrants, face many problems of insalubrity and overcrowding, but also the impacts of the gentrification dynamics taking place in these transit areas. To meet these different challenges and to compensate for the lack of intervention by public authorities, community organizations are mobilizing and proposing innovative responses ranging from individual support for tenants to the promotion of social housing through protests in the public space, and participation in community housing development projects adapted to the needs of households. However, while the third sector seems to be playing an increasingly important role at the local level, one may wonder whether this approach to the problems of poor housing by community organizations does not help to legitimize the lack of intervention by institutional stakeholders in the sector.
Parc-Extension has a high proportion of low-income immigrant and racialized residents, and a strong community network.
In September 2019, the Université de Montréal opened its new Campus MIL on the south edge of the neighborhood.
Residents of Parc-Extension are already feeling the impact of the new campus, less than one year after the opening.
Key findings
Housing. The opening of the new campus has caused rent hikes, evictions, and the displacement of residents, in a context characterized by low vacancy rates in Parc-Extension and in Montreal more broadly.
Community. Community groups have been displaced and support networks are being destabilized.
Studentification and professionalization. A specific form of gentrification is occurring, caused by an influx of Université de Montréal students to the neighborhood and a speculative housing market. This will accelerate a broader professionalization process in the neighbourhood: between censuses 2006 and 2016, the rate of people holding a B.A degree and more rose from 15% to 21% and the rate of households making 80 000 $ and more rose from 4.6% to 16.5%.
Missed opportunities
Good intentions, little action. Despite public messaging, the Université de Montréal has failed to act or take responsibility for their impact on Parc-Extension.
Student housing. The University included student housing in their initial plans, but has since sold this land to private developers.
Lack of transparency. Many proactive attempts were made by the community to develop a mitigation strategy, but documentation shows the University has not meaningfully engaged with these efforts.
Moving forward
Dialogue and mitigate. The authors call on the Université de Montréal to enter into dialogue and commit to using its position for mitigation.
Many models. Many universities have taken leadership in partnering with local communities. The Université de Montréal can learn from them.
Non-profit student housing. The University should offer on-campus student housing, and work with the government to develop a province-wide strategy for non-profit student housing.
Collaborate and support. Identify, in collaboration with local community groups, ways for supporting projects that are already working to mitigate the problems that affect Parc-Extension, for example, community housing projects.