222% Rent Increase: Exorbitant Bill Threatens Organizations

The survival of community organizations is more dangerous and more demanding than at any time since the pandemic, threatened since they were asked for $320,000 tied to a 222% rent increase.

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“You are not doing this in a pandemic, and you are not doing this to your community organizations. We are doing this to help the world!” Chantal Comptoa, director of Ahuntsic Nutrition and Community Action Service (SNAC), deplores.

His organization, like many others, is in danger of getting into trouble due to an unexpected $320,000 claim sent by the Center for scolaire de Montréal Services (CSSDM), the building’s owner.

Submitted on June 15, this title claims Solidarité Ahuntsic, the Table de concertation which rents its headquarters at the Ahuntsic Community Center.

This law, to say the least, is tied to the 222% rent increase requested by the CSSDM in 2018, but rejected by Solidarité Ahuntsic due to the organizations’ inability to accommodate it.

This surprised Remy Ropitel, director of Solidarité Ahuntsic, who asserts that CSSDM has not followed through on negotiations and has continued to collect rents for the past three years without mentioning the unpaid amount until very recently.

It thus competes “strongly” due to this amount to CSSDM.

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For Solidarité Ahuntsic, having to foot such a bill means having to raise more money from each charter organization, whose financial position is often already precarious, an option Mr. Robitaille considers unrealistic.

“I would expect some organizations to die or relocate,” he says.

Especially as needs have spread among vulnerable clients who depend on the services provided, which include, among others, food assistance as well as housing support, mental health, homelessness, and support for new arrivals.

For example, at SNAC, families coming in for food aid have decreased from 1,200 to 2,500 since the start of the pandemic.

CSSDM and its tags persisted

CSSDM rejected .’s interview request magazine Consider the differences between the two parties.

In an email, he did not specify how he was entitled to claim this “overdue credit” or why he had waited three years to do so.

“The CSSDM is aware of Solidarité Ahuntsic’s activities and the benefits to society,” wrote Quentin Parisis, a communications consultant.

He concludes that “the amounts received by the center contribute to its financial balance, and all amounts that are not collected can have an impact on the educational services it provides to its students.”