Ethnicity and Home Ownership in Montreal, 1921–51

Abstract

Montreal has long been perceived as “a city of tenants” in a North-American world of owners. This perception has been explained by the strong presence of French Canadians who were poor and had a lower preference for home ownership. This article provides for the first time relevant data that allows a detailed comparison of housing types, values, tenure and occupations of French Canadians, English Canadians and immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, and for the cities of Montreal, Lachine, Outremont, Verdun and Westmount, between 1921 and 1951. Indeed, Montreal was largely a town of tenants living in plexes. But these data show that, in proportion, French Canadians were as much owner-occupants as other ethnic groups and that, in fact, the low rate of owner-occupancy was due more to English Canadians and Eastern Europeans who were attracted to the new apartment buildings. These data also show that one can be a wealthy tenant living in a downtown apartment of great value, or the owner with limited means of a house of little value on the outskirts of the city.

Conditions de logement des ménages immigrants et dynamiques métropolitaines à Montréal : une analyse multiniveau exploratoire

“…S'il y a eu historiquement moins de propriétaires à Montréal qu'ailleurs au Canada, ce serait en raison du faible intérêt que les Canadiens français auraient manifesté pour la propriété privée. Choko (1998) est revenu récemment sur ces interprétations à partir d'une enquête sur l'accession à la propriété dans le Montréal des années 1920 aux années 1950. Il montre qu'il est impossible de réduire l'accession à la propriété à une simple préférence.…”

“…Il faut plutôt prendre en considération la structure de l'offre en logements et les conflits ethniques et sociaux qui peuvent s'exprimer dans une société. Dans le passé, les dispositions légales en vigueur à Montréal, lesquelles exigeaient que l'on devienne propriétaire à la fois du terrain et des murs, ont ainsi pesé lourdement sur les chances des ménages modestes de devenir propriétaire et ont contribué à maintenir les groupes les moins nantis dans une position de dominés par rapport à une élite très largement anglophone (Choko, 1998).…”

More American than the United States

“…17 Several have addressed the issue of cultural differences between English-and French-Canadians, documenting differences in housing tenure, the use of housing space, and infant mortality. 18 An especially significant cluster of articles has dealt with rental accommodation, a topic that has been neglected not only in Canada but in North America as a whole. 19 Several of these studies have not only added to our understanding of the housing situation in Canada but also have introduced methodologies that are of more general relevance, for example, to the analysis of housing occupancy, the influence of housing conditions on infant mortality, owner building, and the journey from home to work.…”

North American Urban History: The Everyday Politics and Spatial Logics of Metropolitan Life

“…French Canadians, he discovers, were as invested in homeownership as English Canadians in the early twentieth century, a finding that challenges several longstanding assumptions about who occupied what kinds of dwellings in Canadian cities and why. 67 In a resourceful investigation of space per person as "a fundamental measure of equity in an urban society," Gilliland & Olson remind scholars of the stakes riding on better housing: ventilation and sunshine, personal comfort, a "lower-density neighbourhood, and greater labour power available to support and manage that space." 68 Recent studies have documented a much broader range of housing types than ever before, particularly for middle-to lower-income urban dwellers.…”

“…68 Recent studies have documented a much broader range of housing types than ever before, particularly for middle-to lower-income urban dwellers. They include public housing, 69 plexes, 70 79 and federally sponsored homes and communities related to national defense emergencies. 80 In addition, three surveys of housing apply the insights of social history to provide new, if overly broad, interpretations of everyday domestic architecture in Canada and the United States.…”