Taylor Clark

LJI Reporter

Action Gatineau head Maude Marquis-Bissonnette presented what the mayoral candidate referred to as “win-win” solutions to pull Gatineau out of the housing crisis.

“Despite the increase in construction starts for several years, too many citizens do not yet have access to housing that meets their situations and this is proof that we need to do things differently. Tools exist; we must seize them to build communities for our world,” Marquis- Bissonnette told journalists on May 2.

Marquis-Bissonnette offered three “concrete and realistic solutions” to meet the needs of citizens without stretching their wallets. Among the first was using the city’s new powers of incentive zoning or tax credits to facilitate affordable, social, and family housing. Marquis-Bissonnette committed to opening the doors of communication between citizens and developers prior to a project being realized.

“Citizens are interested in the projects that are developing in their neighbourhood. They want to be informed and listened to by developers before the project is submitted to the city,” she said.

With the adoption of the affordable housing strategy, Marquis-Bissonnette said it was high time Gatineau put some of those tools, like the right of pre-emption, into motion.

“Faced with this urgent situation, the responsibility of a mayor is to defend the interests of everyone. With what I am proposing, we are clarifying the rules of the game to ensure that developers can contribute and do their part to adequately accommodate our world.”

Photo caption: Action Gatineau mayoral candidate Maude Marquis Bissonnette stresses urgent action to stop the City’s housing crisis from unraveling.

Photo credit: Taylor Clark