St-Henri looting puts spotlight on Montreal neighbourhood's gentrification

After another case of vandalism and looting on the weekend, Montreal business owners, politicians and community activists are reflecting on the stresses an influx of new businesses and high-priced condos areplacing on the city'sSt-Henri neighbourhood.

On Saturday, approximately30 masked individuals dressed in blackstormed 3734,a boutique grocery store connected to a restaurant on Notre-Dame Street West, a stretch where an increasing number of high-end restaurants and cafs have popped up.

• St-Henri store stormed, looted in anti-gentrification protest

They threw smoke bombs, stole food and left behind a printedmessagederiding the "arrival of condos in St-Henri."

The note said the neighbourhood has since seen "a multitude of expensive businesses hipster restaurants and bourgeois grocery stores."

Police haven't madeany arrests.

'Condo-ization' of the neighbourhood

It was the latest in a string of cases of vandalism targeting new businesses in the traditionally working-class neighbourhood.

Over the last decade, many of the factories in the area have been replaced by condosand office space. New shops and restaurants have also popped up.

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Coun.Craig Sauvsaid the "vast majority of people inSt-Henridon't condone vandalism and theft," butthe incidentspointto larger problems facing a community in transition.

"As a borough, we're doing what we can to create more inclusive housing," he told CBC Montreal'sDaybreak.

"We're trying to slow down the 'condo-ization' of the neighbourhood with the very few legal means we have," saidSauv, who is part of the city's opposition partyProjetMontral.

The Southwestborough is also trying to pressure the provincial and federal government to bring some legislation to help keep commercial rental ratesdown and put more funding into social housing,Sauvsaid.

"We've seen no action from the provincial government," he said.

St-Henri resident Natasha Razouk talks gentrification

8 years ago

Duration 0:38

Natasha Razouk, a single-mother and student, said she was lucky to find a subsidized co-op in St-Henri because it was otherwise unaffordable.

Another Plateau?

MaximeTremblay, co-owner of 3734, saidhe was attracted by the character of the neighbourhood and the cheap rent, even though he runs an upscale shop.

He has no plans to leave the neighbourhood, but he's concerned it could turn into anotherPlateauMont-Royal, a trendy Montreal borough home to many of the city's most trendy restaurants and bars.

"Of course, there's some big issues about gentrification in the area," he toldDaybreak.

"What I hope is thatSt-Henriwill stay mixed and not become something like the Plateau, which is more homogenous."

Tremblaysaid he has made an effort to sell items that "aren't too expensive but still in line with our values."

Stretching a community's 'social fabric'

A recent reportby the charitable organizationCentraidesaidthe arrival of new businesses "infused new life" into the borough,which hasexperienced an upswing in major urban projects that have brought on "considerable real estate and speculative pressure."

"These incredible changes have indeed stretched and reformed the community's social fabric," the report says.

• Reserve land for social housing, not condos, Montreal housing activists say

Earlier this month, members of thesocial housing groupFRAPRUcamped out on theLachineCanal to bring attention to the lack of affordable housing.

The group wants the two governments to kick in enough cash togetherto have 50,000social housing units up and running in Quebec within the next five years.

St-Henri'being taken away from us'

That's the kind of development inSt-Henrithat resident Natasha Razouk would prefer.

The singlemother and student said she was lucky to find a subsidized co-op in the neighbourhood because it was otherwise unaffordable.

While shedisagrees with vandalism as a tactic for challengingSt-Henri'sgentrification, she understands the anger that motivates it.

"I don't think it's fair, honestly. St-Henriwas built on the backs of low-income families, hard workers, working class, blue collar, many poor people also, generations and generations," she said.

Those are the kind of residents she feels are no longer welcome in St-Henri.

"Our neighbourhood is kind of being taken away from us. It's becoming trendy and we're in the way now. This is how I feel," she said.