Beginning in the 1980s, factories started shutting down at an alarming rate, leaving the neighborhood ridden with poverty and a high concentration of welfare, especially in Hochelaga.

In the most notorious incident of the guerre des motards, on 9 August 1995, a drug dealer was killed by a bomb planted in his jeep while the shrapnel badly injured an 11-year boy, Daniel Desrochers, who died of his wounds four days later.

[10][11] The 2010s were marked by increased gentrification, the arrival of students and professionals, and condo development leading to protests and some cases of vandalism of commerce.

[14] Despite this, areas continue to struggle with poverty, prostitution and drug trafficking, particularly in the south-western corner of Hochelaga on Rue Sainte-Catherine Est.

[9][8] In summer 2020, in the same area, a significant number of homeless people began camping along Rue Notre-Dame, creating something akin to a tent city.

This was attributed in part to the ongoing housing crisis in Montreal, significantly heightened by unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as overcrowding of existing shelters.

[16] However, by the summer of 2022, many of the occupants had gradually returned, and were again removed by the SPVM in June, leading to an outcry from homeless advocates and certain opposition politicians.

Notable songs about the neighbourhood include Voyou by Les Cowboys Fringants,[21] Hochelaga by Alexandre Poulin[22] as well as La question à 100 piasses[23] and Rue Ontario[24] by Bernard Adamus.

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is located in the federal riding of Hochelaga, and represented by MP Soraya Martinez Ferrada of the Liberal Party.

Municipally it's part of Hochelaga and Maisonneuve–Longue-Pointe, represented by Éric Alan Caldwell and Laurence Lavigne-Lalonde of Projet Montréal at the Montreal City Council.