Artists and tenants under attack by real estate monsters, on CKUT 90.3 FM

Free City Radio

Artists and tenants under attack by real estate monsters A live community broadcast on CKUT 90.3 FM Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 2-4pm live on CKUT 90.3FM on Funky Revolutions 5500 Saint Hubert Montreal Full info https://docs.google.com/document/d/1403LG70YxIGlVUr68qC9Wv5MkLjzQI18Rt95dbdT680/edit?usp=sharing A discussion co-hosted by Stefan Christoff and Khalid M'Seffar of Funky Revolutions, the weekly program on CKUT 90.3 FM program that hosted this show. Speakers: Lauren Laframboise, Vanier Scholar and PhD student at the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS) (profile page) and the External Affairs Officer for the Concordia Research and Education Workers’ Union (CREW–CSN). Kiva Stimac, the general and artistic director of the Suoni per il Popolo festival. Asher Woodhead, a Concordia student and independent musician (Doldrums / Crasher) Catherine Bodmer, a visual artist and General Director of RCAAQ (Regroupement des centres d'artistes autogérés du Québec) A Solidarity Economy Incubation Zone (SEIZE) researcher who co-authored the report “From Crisis to Consensus: A survey of 60 housing groups from across Canada,” looking at the state of the housing justice movement in Québec and Canada. CKUT 90.3 FM's production coordinator Spencer Gilley is the broadcast engineer. Photographer Amru Salahuddien took photos and the Social Justice Centre at Concordia University supported this project. This community radio broadcast to looks at the ways that real estate monsters are attacking independent artists in the context of an unprecedented housing and space affordability crisis in the city and beyond. This broadcast took place at 5500 St. Hubert, a space that has served for years as a gathering point for independent artists. The location is currently the locale for a thriving independent arts network, including multiple small visual arts studios and music rehearsal locations. This address is inhabited by cultural workers with creative practices not defined by mainstream art market paradigms. Today this location, a former potato chip factory, is slated for demolition by UTILE, a company aiming to construct private student condo units. This process also involves massive amounts of public funding (report), as $21.4 million is going to the company just from the city of Montréal, for a larger process that involves few mechanisms for full accountability or democratic access to the decision making of the company. UTILE claims to be creating accessible student housing while the company is making massive profits and has little meaningful track record of creating truly affordable non-market student housing that is safe from rising rents in the long term. In the context of the current housing crisis market driven projects are not the solution. Today students and other communities who are dealing with precarious housing are being presented with false market oriented projects that are billed as solutions. Non-market housing options, like the urgent need for public financial support for co-op housing from all levels of government, is a key element to building any real long term solutions. Demolishing affordable artist studios, where many students and community members work, thrive and create is what UTILE is doing in this case and this is unacceptable.