I’m writing in response to an article by The Concordian titled ”CSU housing co-operative may fail” which was published on Jan. 30. The article suggested the Concordia Student Union (CSU) might have to cancel Concordia’s co-operative student housing complex project due to a $200,000 cost overrun which will be incurred because of a recent demand for a brick facade made by the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.
I was a CSU councillor and voted in favour of this project’s budget when it was presented in Fall 2016. We took money from the Student Spaces funds which, at the time, had millions of dollars in its account to pay for this project. And this is exactly where my question and confusion arises: why not take another $200,000 from the same fund and transfer it to the student housing project?
This project is worth further investment. I understand if the CSU is hesitant to invest further and is, perhaps, trying to call on its partners for a solution before making another investment, but whether or not there’s enough money in the Spaces fund for an additional $200,000 investment needs clarification: can we not afford another $200,000 investment for student housing? If the answer to this question is no, in the context of our surplus net worth as an organization, I wonder where exactly our priorities as a student union lie.
Sincerely,
Armani Martel