Homelessness in Montreal | “It’s overflowing on all sides”

The summer promises to be difficult again when it comes to homelessness in Montreal. Not only are accommodation resources already bursting at the seams, but above all the distress of vulnerable users is more perceptible than ever on the streets and in the metro. Given the scale of the phenomenon, a new census exercise is being prepared.

“It’s overflowing on all sides at the moment,” bluntly says Annie Savage, director of the Support Network for Single and Homeless People of Montreal (RAPSIM).

His group, made up of more than 100 organizations helping vulnerable users in the region, fears that “the phenomenon will increase even more in the coming months, in a context where the housing crisis is getting worse.”

M^me Savage is categorical: the community ecosystem is “doing everything it can with the means we are currently giving (it).” “The big problem is the lack of space to open up resources. This prevents us from deploying projects that would meet needs,” she says.

“All of our establishments that offer emergency services are full. It’s a very difficult time on the front line,” also confirms the president of the Old Brewery Mission, James Hughes. He particularly fears that “the more people experiencing homelessness in public spaces, the more the population accepts it as a permanent reality, which is very dangerous.”

A “24/7” model

Last winter, Montreal had approximately 1,800 places in shelters, day and night. If we include other resources – including addiction centers, hospitals and social housing – around 7,000 places are available for this clientele, estimates Public Health.

According to Annie Savage, “the solution must go through a program financing reception centers 24/7 (…), on a permanent basis, in premises where the organizations are owners or at least tenants in the long term”.

Mr. Hughes agrees. “We absolutely must focus on 24/7 services, 365 days a year. We forget about one-off measures. We must have a vision where professional services are there at all times. And in the longer term, we will solve homelessness through housing, period. These people never dreamed of being in a camp or in the metro,” he notes.

“Complex and varied” issues

At the City of Montreal, the person responsible for homelessness on the executive committee, Robert Beaudry, also envisages “a summer during which we will have to be on the front lines”. “The issues are increasingly complex and varied, whether we are talking about physical health, mental health, the aging of the population or even drug addiction which is changing with synthetic drugs,” he says.

“It will take major investments from governments. We can acquire land, but that requires infrastructure. We can no longer work in temporary response if we want to respond to an emergency situation,” adds Mr. Beaudry, who would particularly like the health network to become more integrated “within community groups.”

The opposition deplores “the absence of a municipal action plan aimed at offering alternatives to people who will find themselves in makeshift camps” as summer approaches. “We invite the Plante administration to show leadership and increase the number of adapted 24/7 accommodation resources,” says Councilor Benoit Langevin.

By email, the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal says it is “finalizing the homelessness plan for the summer period”. “We are in discussions with all our partners, including community organizations,” says its spokesperson, Geneviève Paradis.

Towards an “enumeration” of homelessness

Until then, a “hosted homelessness enumeration” will take place on April 23. It is not a “count” strictly speaking, which mobilizes tons of volunteers in the street, but above all an administrative exercise during which resources are invited to compile their attendance and their occupancy rate. The exercise is, however, a waste of time, according to several speakers.

In September, the results of the first official count of homelessness since 2018 showed that the phenomenon had jumped 44% in five years in Quebec, with 10,000 homeless people as of October 2022. Since that date, all parties agree that this figure has most likely jumped.

The Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, announced an additional $20 million to cover urgent needs, but above all, he committed to ensuring that the count would be done more regularly.

“Our objective remains to develop a continuum of services year-round, ranging from shelters to supervised housing,” says its press secretary, Lambert Drainville.

He recalls that the government “has stopped closing shelters according to the seasons, which previously were only open from December to March”.

An envelope in this sense “was renewed for four additional years during the economic update last November, for a total investment of 123.7 million over 5 years,” adds Mr. Drainville.

“Housing for the most vulnerable will be an important part of the solution for the future, as more and more projects emerge, thus making it possible to bring people back to autonomy while freeing up places in shelters,” concludes -he, citing the examples of the Le Christin project, the Bash Shetty Residence, the Chez Doris organization and the Robert-Lemaire Pavilion.