City buys Park Ex lot for social housing

The city has exercised its right to buy a piece of land on Jarry in Park Extension, where it wants to put up 30 units of social housing – but it will need financial assistance from Quebec to do it.

Interestingly, some of the regulars on a Park Ex Facebook group aren’t happy about this because it’s bringing more people “and more cars” to the area. I pointed out that if there were a private condo development there, the gentrification would be worse and there would certainly be more cars than around a social housing development. They also resent having “tax money” pay for the project (although, like the recent purchase of Million Carpets and Tiles by the city, admittedly the price paid is considerably more than valuation).

There’s also a tone of NIMBYism: Park Ex is already too dense, why build it here? Which ignores, as I say, the fact that something‘s going to be built on that lot, one way or another. Also, Park Ex is mostly two‑storey housing, how can it be so population dense?