The Milton Park Community (CMP ) is a unique housing cooperative network , created in December 1987 following the adoption of law 224 by the National Assembly of Quebec (a private bill tabled for this purpose) .
Since the 1970s, the residents of the Milton Park Community opposed the massive destruction of their neighborhood. Several Victorian greystone houses were destroyed to give way to a vast urban renewal project. The first part of this project, and the only one built , is the La Cité complex.
Rue Sainte-Famille
photo © La Communauté Milton Parc
Supported by Héritage Montréal and architect Phyllis Lambert, director and founder of the Centre Canadien d'Architecture, and financial support from the SCHL, the residents created between 1979 and 1982 the most important housing cooperative project in North America, restoring and renovating entire rows of buildings constructed at the turn of the 20th century.
On September 23rd, 1998, Canada Post released a set of commemorative stamps dedicated to the history of habitation. One of these stamps, representing 19th century row houses, is taken from a picture of Coopérative Milton Parc on Jeanne-Mance St..
The Société d'Amélioration Milton-Parc (SAMP), put in place by Héritage Montréal, was the owner of all of the buildings in the beginning and managed the community before transferring the properties to the housing cooperatives and the non-profit groups in December 1987. These groups formed what would become a housing cooperative syndicate in 1994 with the revision of the Quebec Civil Code.
The members of the cooperative are not individuals but social organizations . Their goals are the preservation of affordable housing in the city center and the safeguarding of elements of architectural heritage.
CMP houses more than 1,500 people in low and moderate income housing in 616 apartments from more than fifty countries . It includes 146 residential buildings and two commercial buildings. The current members are all co-owners :
- fifteen co-ops
- six low-income housing buildings ( NPOs , including rooming houses )
- SDC Milton Park (SDC ), owner of the commercial properties
- a community-based organization
- two other organizations with a commercial vocation