A new shelter for people experiencing homelessness will see the light of day in Saint-Jérôme, in the Laurentians, a project that comes at a time when another organization is threatened with closure
A week after Sophia’s House announced its imminent closure due to lack of public funding, La Hutte – Terrebonne Emergency Accommodation – announces that it will open a new resource near Sainte-Paule Church.
Headed by the Laurentides Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS), this new Maison de la Hutte will include 48 emergency accommodation places that will be accessible as of December 2022. This project, estimated at 6.5 million $, will be carried out in collaboration with various partners, including the City of Saint-Jérôme.
“Since the very beginning of our mandate, we have been working to find lasting solutions to fight against homelessness. […]. The efforts and the will of the many partners are bearing fruit and we are very proud of it,” declared the mayor of Saint-Jérôme, Marc Bourcier.
Offering services adapted to its clientele, the Hut is an innovative resource that modernizes the offer with a heat stop “where homeless people can meet workers, eat a hot meal, take a shower, wash their clothes and get some for free. , if they need it”.
“The women and men we will welcome are the children, the parents, and often even the grandparents of people from our area. It is for them that we must make the impossible possible, so that we can welcome them as we would like those we love to be welcomed,” said François Savoie, General Manager of La Hutte – Terrebonne Emergency Accommodation. .
Another organization closes
Remember that on April 2, La Maison de Sophia, an organization working with homeless women living with violence, announced that it was facing forced closure due to funding cuts from the CISSS des Laurentides.
The Quebec Liberal Party quickly reacted in a press release denouncing the government’s refusal to renew funding for the organization.
“There is currently only one shelter for women in difficulty in the entire territory of the Laurentians and it is the Maison de Sophia, in Saint-Jérôme. It’s already too little, and yet the CAQ refuses to renew its funding under the eyes of the minister responsible for the region, who remains silent and has not even deigned to get up to answer our questions, ” had deplored the responsible for the Laurentians for the official opposition Christine St-Pierre.
Asked about this during a press scrum on Monday, Prime Minister François Legault mentioned that an accountability problem would be linked to this file, without however going further into the details.
“We are going to offer all the places that are available and that are necessary for [aider] women”, he however mentioned, specifying that it could be with other organizations.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com