With COVID-19 outbreaks pushing Montreal’s homeless shelters to the brink, the city on Thursday unveiled a new resource that it believes will help ease the pressure.
For the second winter in a row, a soccer stadium in the northeastern part of the city is turning into a mass shelter exclusively for those who have tested positive for COVID-19.
“When a call comes from the health network to find a place for people dealing with COVID in the homeless population, we are always ready,” Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said after touring the facility.
The stadium on Papineau Avenue is now being used as an isolation site for people suffering from the virus and has 300 beds. It will be managed by the Red Cross and the Old Brewery Mission.
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“He joined at the speed of light,” said James Hughes, executive director of the Old Brewery Mission.
With the city in the midst of an extreme cold snap and dozens of shelters facing outbreaks among staff and clients, something needed to be done to separate those with COVID-19 from the rest.
“The dangers of isolating yourself in a shelter is that it spreads like a wildfire,” Hughes said.
The Chrome Hotel in downtown Montreal was used to house the sick, but its 150 beds quickly filled up.
Less than a week after defenders asked for help, the soccer stadium is equipped and ready to go.
“These are the same cots that we used during the floods that we had a few years ago, the same cots that we used when the Syrians arrived a few years ago, the same cots that we used in disaster situations. Now they are used for the homeless,” said Pascal Mathieu, vice president of the Quebec Red Cross.
In addition to the beds, the shelter has a cafeteria and a living room with a TV. The stadium was also used as a shelter last year.
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“It gives more space and flexibility to existing shelters that are dealing with so much and doing miracles with so little,” Plante said.
Homeless people who test positive in shelters or emergency rooms will be taken to the facility or given taxi tickets to get there.
The stadium comes into operation just days after a 74-year-old homeless man living outside froze to death in NDG-Cote-des-Neiges, the third to die from the cold in the past year.
The mayor said that despite the best efforts of community organizations, some will always refuse to take to the streets.
“We can’t force someone off the streets,” he said.
Hughes feels that more can always be done to convince people to come in.
“Are we investing enough in those relationships? I would tell them we don’t,” he told Global News.
There is no set timeline for how long the stadium will house the homeless population, with officials only saying it will be used in this capacity for as long as necessary.
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Reference-globalnews.ca