Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada was visibly shaken following the news that two elderly people experiencing homelessness had died in the past 24 hours.
She broke down in tears, turning away from cameras and microphones, as she was announcing the deaths to reporters on Thursday.
“Sometimes when people cry it’s because we’re sad, but also because we’re bad,” Martinez Ferrada said, visibly shaken. “We need to do better. All of us. All governments. We need to do better.”
The mayor had initially convened the press conference to announce new city funding to tackle homelessness, as well as measures to clean up the area around the Notre-Dame St. E. encampment.
But the announcements felt “besides the point” in light of the deaths, Martinez Ferrada said.
“We have committed to make sure that we would not lose anybody on the street. We lost two persons in the last 24 hours,” she said.
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Since the beginning of their mandate, the Martinez Ferrada administration has made it their first priority to address Montreal’s homelessness crisis.
But in light of the deaths, the mayor said it made her feel “powerless.”
“It’s not normal that we’re losing people when we have the means to save them,” she added. “It’s not normal that community organizations are fighting every day, on the front lines, to save lives.”
The City of Montreal will be allocating $412,000 in new funding to community organization L’Anonyme, with the hope that it can help unhoused people living in the Notre-Dame encampments get off the streets.
“Is that enough? Probably not,” Martinez Ferrada said. “I know that community organizations are tired and we need to do better.”
The burden to support Montreal’s homeless population falls on all levels of government, the mayor said. She specifically singled out the federal government to provide more help.
“Montreal needs the other levels of government to be present (…) because otherwise we won’t make it,” she said.
Taking concrete action to end the crisis
The city says that L’Anonyme facilitates the relationship between people experiencing homelessness and the various actors who are called upon to intervene on the scene, such as blue-collar workers. “This measure will make it possible to redirect these people to resources that will help them find housing and, in the meantime, ensure better safety on the premises,” they explained in a press release.
This support team will be made up of four full-time workers. Their role will include contributing to the safety and cleanliness of the land occupied on Notre-Dame, in collaboration with the people who live there. The objective is also to reduce tensions in the district by promoting an equitable sharing of public space.
The workers will also accompany those who live with the issues of object accumulation and will act as a bridge with the blue-collar workers in charge of cleaning up the wasteland.
Social Brigade: Blue-collar workers better trained to intervene in camps
Last week, the Martinez Ferrada administration said they were also planning an annual budget of more than $2 million per year, for the next four years, to train blue-collar workers who are called upon to intervene with increased sensitivity in or around encampments.
“These City employees will not be doing psychosocial interventions, but will accompany and support the blue-collar crews who clean up the encampments. They will be more aware and equipped with specialized equipment, including trucks adapted for collection in the context of homelessness,” writes the city in their release.
More money to intervene in homelessness
The Program for Intervention in Homeless Environments (PIMI) is the basis for the City’s actions in the area of social cohabitation. Several initiatives already active in the field are supported in order to strengthen their reach and ensure a more constant presence with people experiencing homelessness.
“These projects, such as Création collective – Cirque Hors-piste, Vers Elles or La Marie Debout, for example, help improve cohabitation in neighbourhoods by offering support adapted to the realities experienced by young people and women experiencing homelessness. The objective is to support this intervention network which, day after day, makes it possible to maintain safer, more humane and more inclusive environments for all.”
“On the pitch, what really makes the difference is the human connection. When you take the time to get to know people, to talk to them, it changes everything. We want the wasteland to be a cleaner and safer place for everyone. That’s what working on social cohabitation is all about: being there, adapting and finding solutions with the stakeholders already in place to ensure this transition to housing,” said Benoit Langevin, responsible for social development and cohabitation on the City of Montreal’s executive committee.
“We hear and understand the people of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve regarding the Notre-Dame wasteland. That’s why our teams are already on the ground every day. The deployment of the team on the Notre-Dame wasteland will make a concrete difference in the sector. Our goal is clear: to maintain clean, safe and accessible public spaces, while acting with respect and dignity towards people experiencing homelessness,” added Chantal Gagnon, Mayor of the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
