Two weeks after its announcement by the Plante administration, the temporary accommodation project for people in homelessness in Outremont raises questions of social acceptability.
During a exchange party
Held on June 18, for example, a few hundred people came to find out more about the project planned in the MIL sector. This is the third site targeted by the City of Montreal to install old site trains.
This place has been targeted for a period of 24 to 36 months to offer a transient, safe and worthy roof to 30 people in the process of leaving roaming, in a permanent home
can we read in the invitation letter distributed to more than 15,000 households.
The land development work could start towards the end of the year to welcome the first occupying persons in 2026
it is said.
The roaming present in Outremont
During our visit to the Van Horne commercial street, residents did not hesitate to comment.
It is certain that several neighbors are a little worried because normally, we were a little safe from these phenomena [d’itinérance] in Outremont
observe Kerwin Myler. For a few months, we see that there are more people in difficulty in the streets
adds the man who has lived in the neighborhood for almost four years.
Kerwin Myler believes that the project should be the subject of a consultation.
Photo : Radio-Canada
We doubt that this is a temporary installation […] And it feels like we avoided consultation because we didn’t want to hear people.
For his part, Jacques Fournier says he is in favor of the project. When you see itinerants, you have to do your share in society anyway […] You have to say that we can share
he says.
A stone’s throw away, the co -owner of a grocery store had his concerns.
I salute the initiative, I find that the intention is good, except that in terms of execution, it missed, it was unfortunately lacking
estimates Patrick Yoo, from the Young Brothers market. We live in a democracy and we were zero consulted in relation to that; It is regrettable.
Patrick Yoo, co -owner of the Young Brothers market, a grocery store that has been in the neighborhood for 30 years.
Photo : Radio-Canada
Long -standing resident of the district, Mr. Yoo is concerned in particular for the display flight and acknowledges that homelessness brings its prejudices
.
An approach rider
For Caroline Braun, district councilor of the Outremont borough for the party together Montreal, the process to date Has done in a hyper rider
.
Caroline Braun, advisor to the Outremont borough for the Montreal party
Photo : Radio-Canada
First, it was not a public consultation that took place, but only an information session, says the elected official. People received opinions by post and, a few days later, it was the information session.
There are people who presented themselves who thought it was a public consultation. They arrived with written texts, ready to explain what they understood from the project, what they had as fears or what they had as requests, and they were literally turned on board.
Each site can accommodate 30 people in homelessness under the supervision of community organizations.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Davide Gentile
President of the Outremont urban planning advisory committee, the elected representative of the Jeanne-Sauvé district adds that the Committee mentioned during his last meeting that he was a pity that the selected land was initially intended for social housing
.
The modular project may reject this vocation.
Any new adviser associated with homelessness at the Executive Committee at the City of Montreal for the Montreal Project Party, Pierre Lessard-Blais was present at the session of June 18.
Pierre Lessard-Blais, mayor of the district of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Photo : Radio-Canada
We have just started a consultation process 9 to 15 months before the opening of the project in Outremont
he says.
We are going to have a good neighborhood committee that will be launched this fall. We already have around twenty people who are registered, then we will have another public session this winter to keep people aware of the process.
According to Mr. Lessard-Blais, also mayor of the district of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, People who are targeted to go to modular dwellings with support are economic homelessness, people who have lost their accommodation in recent months, in recent years, who are ready to return very quickly
. These are not people who have drug addiction or mental health problems
he wants to specify.
In the opinion of Mr. Lessard-Blais, the proposed modular accommodation could, by domino effect, help to release places in the shelters that are full […] For people who are on the street and who will be able to use these spaces
. The latter knows something about it, given the presence of the Notre-Dame camp in its arrondissement.
A petition has been circulating in Outremont for a few days in order to request the immediate holding of a public consultation […] and the suspension of the implementation of the project until this consultation has taken place
.
A few months before the municipal elections, while the question of the homeless camps in Montreal is strongly publicized, the theme of roaming is added to that of the housing crisis.
The live together
A long -standing resident of Outremont, Isabelle Verdier says she is aware of housing needs, particularly for vulnerable populations.
If I knew that the project and its implantation had been reflected at length and that they were going to be supported in both human and responsible way, I would certainly be in their favor
she writes to us.
This last doubt of the ability [de la Ville] to choose the best location
(proximity to daycares and schools), to educate the host population
(we will need it) and to supervise and accompany the providers
.
A hassidic school for girls is located near the modular accommodation site targeted by the City of Montreal.
Photo : Radio-Canada
For his part, Dominique Fortin believes that there is a minority in Outremont behind the “not in my court”
. According to him, the modular accommodation project, It is not an injection center, it is accommodation for people in the process of social reintegration, with supervision
. It is an important project in living together
he writes to us.
Ahuntsic and CDN-NDG from July
Radio-Canada recently revealed that two modular accommodation islets will receive their first tenants in the coming weeks.
Workers work in the development of these former site offices moved to the Louvain and the Hippodrome site, respectively in the districts of Ahuntsic-Cartierville and Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
The project of minimaisons
For homeless people has caused a lot of ink to flow in the past year.
A call for tenders launched in August 2024 had not aroused any compliant submission. An important change concerning the installation of sanitary facilities on the ground had occurred four days before the deadline, which had been pushed twice.
This process had been described as improvisation by the official opposition spokesperson for housing in Montreal, Julien Hénault-Ratelle, while the aid network for single and itinerant people in Montreal reiterated the urgency to act.
In January 2025, the city finally concluded a $ 3.2 million contract for the purchase of prefabricated buildings that can host 90 people.
During the federal electoral campaign, in March and April, the subjects of affordable housing and roaming were overshadowed by the trade war with the United States. In the field, stakeholders and users suggested investing more in housing and in support services to curb the increase in roaming that rages across the country.
