A crisis unit and more funding for boroughs are among the new measures introduced by the City of Montreal Wednesday to tackle homelessness.
The Martinez Ferrada administration says the new crisis unit – within the existing tactical intervention group (GITI) – will meet every week to facilitate quick decision-making, assist the transition of vulnerable individuals into housing, and coordinate encampment interventions.
The city says it’s being modelled after the one deployed during extreme cold spells last December. It will be made up of representatives from the City of Montreal, the Government of Quebec, Public Health, the CIUSSS and the community sector.
“We are all working toward the same objective: to support vulnerable individuals in their journey toward sustainable housing,” said Claude Pinard, the City of Montreal executive committee member responsible for homelessness. “I would like to thank our partners for their commitment; we need everyone’s expertise and ability to mobilize to help people get off the streets.”
Montreal is also allocating $9 million this year and $11 million next year to help boroughs facing the pressures of homelessness.
That funding is meant to improve interventions in municipal facilities like libraries and sports centres, install sanitation facilities where required, and enhance security. It’s also destined to support field operations in the implementation of the city’s encampment protocol.
The city administration is also earmarking $13 million this year and $16 million next year to support community organizations doing street outreach and other front-line work.
The Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough will receive one-time funding for cleanup on Notre-Dame Street, where there is currently one of the city’s largest-ever encampments. TVA Nouvelles reported it had reached a record 95 tents on Tuesday.
Three workers will be on site every day until Oct. 31 doing waste collection along the vacant lot and in the surrounding parks.
Pinard says it’s unacceptable for there to be such a large encampment in any city, saying it cannot be normalized.
CityNews was at the encampment Wednesday, prior to the city’s announcement, and met Devint, who says he’s among the more than 150 people been living there.
“We’re not homeless,” he said. “Look, this is my home.”
Devint says he hasn’t gotten any sleep for two days now because he’s rebuilding part of his home from the inside after being warned by police.
“I gotta tear it down,” he said. “Some parts like here, it’s too close to the bicycle path and the more I go, it has to be three metres away.
“I passed the winter in there and they didn’t say a word. Now I’m in the summer and i have to demolish?”
Devint says it’s an ongoing yearly routine. He says that’s a reflection of something he feels has been missing from the city’s approach to homelessness.
“A council that listens to us,” he explained. “Not just an elite who decides, ‘OK, that’s three metres too close to the bicycle path, let’s demolish it.’”
As the Notre-Dame encampment continues to grow, Devint says so do the needs to the people living there.
“Food. That’s the one thing we need,” he said.
“Any type of doctors who could come to see them. And some of them are quite injured.”
That reality was also highlighted by the organization L’anonyme, which says homelessness requires more than simply building housing units.
“Homelessness isn’t just a housing problem, but it’s still a housing problem,” said director Julien Montreuil.
–With files from Zachary Cheung
