Focus on: Milton Parc Community in Montreal

Every week, the CoHabitat Network introduces you to a collaborative housing project documented on the cohabitat.io database.

Milton Park is one of the oldest and most characteristic neighbourhoods in Montreal. In the 1970s, the whole neighbourhood was targeted for regeneration which would gentrify it and make it unaffordable for original residents.

In response, the community mobilised to find a long-term solution and avoid evictions, resulting in the creation of the Milton Parc Community. The project has a unique legal stricture, similar to a community land trust, protecting six blocks in downtown Montreal from speculation and gentrification.

As a large-scale precedent for community land ownership, Milton Parc has served as an inspiration for subsequent radical housing projects around the world, including the Champlain Housing Trust in Vermont (now the largest community land trust in the United States). Residents have been able to remain in the homes they occupied, which has promoted financial and social stability and continuity. Evictions for non-payment of rent have been extremely rare.

The Milton Parc Community is made up of representatives from all the co-ops and nonprofits, and has a collective responsibility to preserve the properties, maintain and manage the common portions, and protect the rights related to the properties.The CMP controls the transformation of the neighbourhood through a community-run nonprofit that supervises commercial spaces and oversees initiatives to satisfy the residents’ needs. Any surplus profit is reinvested or used to finance projects that benefit the whole community.

▶ More infos on cohabitat.io

Milton Parc is a 2013 World Habitat finalist. More infos here