While awaiting the tabling of the Girard budget, the Union of Municipalities is asking Quebec to make homelessness a national priority, with sufficient funding to support it.
In a statement released Wednesday, the UMQ asserts that the situation of homeless people “continues to deteriorate throughout Quebec.”
She therefore calls for homelessness to be made a national priority, “supported by predictable, recurring investments that meet the needs for the next five years.” She mentions predictable funding for both municipalities and community organizations that work with homeless people.
She also requests that data on the phenomenon be collected and updated, and that interventions follow accordingly.
“The next budget will be the Legault government’s last. This is its chance to give itself the means to reverse the trend in homelessness by allocating budgets that meet the needs observed throughout Quebec. Without impetus from the top of the government, the increase in the number of homeless people on our streets will continue,” says Bruno Marchand, president of the UMQ’s homelessness committee and mayor of Quebec City.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
