Nevertheless,
Homelessness crisis | camps front:
The accommodation resources for the homeless are packed in Montreal. Consequently, to the point that several of them are now surrounded by camps. In addition, In the community environment. Moreover, it is feared that the crisis will be accentuated by the ban on strolling in the metro, but also by a more marked police presence.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“We see a continual increase in people who are really without option. Meanwhile, so they camp in front of our doors, in front of the doors of many other partners too. Furthermore, It is frustrating to see so much distress. Nevertheless, ”said the director of the Old homelessness crisis | camps front Brewery mission, James Hughes, in an interview.
Near its premises. Therefore, between the Chinese district and the Old Montreal, nearly ten tents have been installed for a few weeks on the edge of a parking lot. Nevertheless, A mattress is placed on the ground, overlooked by a turquoise parasol. Furthermore,
Photo Sarah Mongeau-Birkett. Consequently, the press
An increase in the number of people who are really without option has been noted at the Old Brewery mission. Therefore,
Clothes dry on various supports. However, grocery carts overflow with personal effects, around a few idle people installed on heterogeneous chairs, who homelessness crisis | camps front watch tourists pass. Therefore,
A bus shelter from the Montreal Transport Company (STM) was in this place until recently. Furthermore, but it was removed because it was permanently occupied by often aggressive or poisoned homeless.
The phenomenon of “minicampements” could have grown due to “the obligation to circulate” which is again applied in the metro since mid-June. advances the director of the Mission Old Brewery, James Hughes.
“Our premises are right next to the Place-d’Armmes. Champ-de-Mars metros, so it is sure that people might have been in the metro during the day at least, and not in front of our doors, if the practices had not changed,” he explains.
Photo Martin Chamberland. La Presse Archives
Le DG de la Mission Old Brewery, James Hughes
The manager calls on the authorities to tolerate these forms of “minicampements”. “These people are there because the services are here. They can enter to go to the bathroom. telephone, take a sandwich, get help in an emergency, in short, have services to survive, “he said.
Homelessness crisis | camps front
A more hostile climate?
Same observation to the anonymous, which offers mobile psychosocial support to homeless in a bus. “We note that there are more. more new installations, sometimes close to resources, but also in gray areas,” observes the director of the organization’s urban security program, Sophie Gagnon.
We see people regrouping, for the community aspect, but also the feeling of security. These are survival strategies: they find sites where they are less visible. less purchased, by being smaller, by not wanting to disturb.
Sophie Gagnon. director of the anonymous urban security program
“If we see more camps, it is because there are no longer as many alternatives available,” says Andrew Marrocco, director general of the St-Michael mission, which holds a 60-seat stop in the city center.
Photo Sarah Mongeau-Birkett. the press
A makeshift shelter was mounted under a Pietonnier viaduct in front of the Saint-Michael mission.
homelessness crisis | camps front
However, the ban on strolling in the metro is not the only factor to take into account, according to him. “Beyond that, the city center is more” supervised “,” he notes. It forces many vulnerable people to go further to find outdoor spaces, where the neighborhood is less used to cohabit. »»
“These people that we leave the metro. it comes with the fact that they are tolerated less and less in the spaces where, historically, they had their place, like the pedestrian arteries”, adds the director of the assistance network for single and itinerant people in Montreal (Rapsim), Annie Savage.
“Weakness of our system”
The new commissioner for homeless people in the city of Montreal. Julien David-Pelletier, says he is well aware of the phenomenon of the minicampements that homelessness crisis | camps front are multiplying. “This is something that is lived in all boroughs. It is directly linked to the fact that the number of itinerant people is constantly increasing. ”he said in an interview.
Photo Hugo-Sebastien Aubert. Archives La Presse
The city’s roaming commissioner, Julien David-Pelletier
“For me, it shows that the city has become the scene of the weakness of our resource system. We lack specialized mental health resources, treatment of dependencies, ”explains Mr. David-Pelletier.
He swears that the city “does everything that is its power to help these people”. “Right now, there is a lot of effort to find new homelessness crisis | camps front accommodation. We are ready to collaborate with all the resources that Quebec can inject into the crisis, ”says the commissioner.
As for the link with the metro and the police presence, “it’s difficult to know”, retorts the senior official. “I have no specific data to find out if these people were in the metro before. »»
“The roaming crisis cannot be summed up in a single cause. Additionally, ” said the press attaché of the mayor Valérie Plante, Simon Charron, in a written declaration. “It is a complex phenomenon which is the result of the crises of housing, mental health, opioids and poverty. Furthermore, »»
A measure and requests
The prohibition of strolling in the metro must be in force until April 2026. homelessness crisis | camps front The measure allows special constables of the Montreal Transport Company (STM) to force people to go out. even if they are not witness to a problematic situation, as was the case before. The STM still asks Quebec Resources for High-capacity Sans-Abri Open 24 hours a 24 hours near the neuralgic stations. such as Berri-Uqam and Bonaventure. Discussions about this are still underway. “Our special constables note that the regulation on the obligation to circulate is known. understood by people in station, which allows faster and easier negotiation for our constables when they do an intervention,” says the STM spokesperson, Laurence Houde-Roy, specifying that the measure “facilitates interventions and allows our constables to focus on other challenges, […] as referencing to medical or psychosocial services ”.
Homelessness crisis | camps front
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