By John Chenier
De La Salle was one of three cooperative housing projects built specifically for the purpose of providing homes for francophones that had been displaced when their homes were demolished during the urban renewal craze of the 1960s and 70s. Like the other two cooperatives in Lowertown that preceded it, Beausoleil (1973) and Brebeuf (1978), the stipulation was that the housing was to go to those families that had been forced to move from Lowertown.
All three cooperatives provided a mix of subsidized and market-priced housing built on plots of land that had been expropriated by the city as part of the renewal. The 82 dwellings of the de
La Salle coop stretch along four streets: Guigues, Rose, Michel Riel and St Andrew. When it opened in 1982, the first residents were mostly the children of families that had been displaced. Their parents had established roots in their new communities since the time they had been forced to leave and had ittle interest in moving back to Lowertown.
According to Renée Sylvain, who has been at de La Salle from the beginning, the first years were much like a family or class reunion. While the new residents may not have known each other, discovering someone they knew in common from their past, someone who had been in their class at school or lived on their street, was easy. Common facilities, such as a safe, enclosed, well-equipped playground for the children and a separate building with an office and a large “community hall” for meetings and parties broke down the isolation and contributed to the development of community.
Ms. Sylvain says that there are many things that promote a sense of community within the coop. The social programming is one example. In the early days, there was an annual BBQ where a large piece of meat was cooked for the members. The BBQ has been replaced by an annual picnic held every June before people leave for their summer vacations.
There are parties for the children at Christmas, Easter and Halloween where all the children receive gifts and goodies. To help pay for these, the coop raises money by holding a 50-50 draw every two weeks.
The coop is self-governing and very self-reliant. Whereas a condominium typically pays outside workers to do most of the work to maintain the building and grounds — and hence has high fees, coop members are expected to do much of the regular upkeep. The members of the LaSalle Board of Directors lead committees responsible for overseeing the maintenance of the building exteriors, the interiors of the units, the selection of new members, organizing the leisure and social activities and seeing that the rules and regulations are followed. Every member of the coop is expected to offer four hours of their time every month, if needed, to do the things that need to be done.
De La Salle has paid off its mortgage and has a healthy financial reserve to pay for those exterior repairs it knows are coming after 40 years. As a result, the rents are very affordable and there is no shortage of applicants looking to live there. However, turnover is very minor and the selection committee has many applicants to choose from. The prerequisite that housing go to families displaced from Lowertown has been removed as it was getting difficult to find people who met the qualification. In addition to looking for young families, the coop chooses people who understand that they are not renting a unit but joining a coop where they will have obligations for sustaining the community.
The President of the coop, David Ross points out that over the years, de La Salle has become a reflection of the new Lowertown. The mix of residents has become ethnically diverse and includes people from many parts of the world who have chosen to make Lowertown their home and de La Salle their community within a community.