MONTREAL — Social workers on the front lines of homelessness in Montreal say they feel increasingly powerless as more people are forced to live in tents during the winter.
MONTREAL — Social workers on the front lines of homelessness in Montreal say they feel increasingly powerless as more people are forced to live in tents during the winter.
Stéphanie Lareau has worked with homeless people in Montreal for the past twenty years. Normally the tents start disappearing in December, but this year is different, she said.
“This will be the first year for me that there are so many, and there are not many places to go. In August I called shelters and they were full every day. That never happened before,” says Lareau.
As temperatures drop in Montreal, homeless shelters are overcrowded and warming stations – furnished with chairs, not beds – are at full capacity. People without homes wander around subway stations, while others sleep standing up in 24-hour restaurants. Many set up tents to survive the winter.
The situation has already proven deadly. On December 15, a 55-year-old homeless man was found dead in a Montreal park. Authorities believe he may have died of hypothermia.
Alison Meighen-Maclean, who has worked with the homeless for the past decade at the regional health authority in eastern Montreal, said people desperately need a roof over their heads. The warming stations the city set up this year don’t meet the need because they are only designed to keep people indoors for short periods of time, she said.
In early December, the Quebec government said it had housed 1,000 homeless people in the province — a population that would reach about 10,000 in 2022. A new count of unhoused people in Quebec is scheduled for January 2025.
Minister of Social Affairs of Quebec Lionel Carmant said organizations that support the homeless were behind the apparent reduction. He also mentioned a government program that provides mental health care and helps people find housing.
For Meighen-Maclean, the housing and homelessness crises are linked.
“In today’s market, it’s very difficult to get back into the (housing) market once you’ve been rejected,” she said, explaining that many are experiencing homelessness for the first time. Some, she said, survived on social assistance and were evicted or lost their jobs.
“Anyone who works with the homeless feels a lot of powerlessness on a daily basis,” says Meighen-Maclean.
Lareau said the increase began to rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the portrait of homelessness has changed. In some cases, seniors are being evicted from their apartments, she said.
“Sometimes they don’t really know the laws or their rights, so they kind of get screwed,” she said.
“Renovation” describes a situation in which a landlord cites the need for major renovations as a reason for an eviction.
Carmant pointed out that the government has increased funding to tackle homelessness, from a five-year budget of $280 million to $410 million.
“This year we added another $15 million, and with federal investments that will be another $25 million over the next two years. We have improved the plan several times, both in terms of emergency measures and housing support,” he said in an interview.
Carmant also said he wants to see more supportive housing in the coming years.
“We talk a lot about shelters, but we have a lot of people who are still in shelters after 12, 18, 24 months,” he said, adding that the goal is to give people support once they leave a shelter so that they don’t. back to the street.
“When they’re ready to become more independent, we put them in what we call supportive housing, where they have their own kitchen… there are no common areas, it’s really like an apartment,” he said.
Laurie Mercure, head of the co-occurring disorders, addictions and homelessness unit at the Montreal East Health Authority, welcomes the promising programs. However, she said too many people are falling through the cracks — especially seniors who need apartments tailored to their needs, couples and people with pets, all of whom face additional barriers to housing.
Despite the uphill battle, Meighen-Maclean, Mercure and Lareau all pointed out that community organizations and intervention workers are building trust with unhoused people so that they are open to accepting help, even if that means getting someone a health insurance card. which for some is their only means of identification.
Sending nurses into the field also makes a difference. “I think we can prevent a person’s condition from worsening by getting into their environment. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a shelter or a camp, with nursing care we may be able to avoid a hospital stay or an emergency room visit,” says Meighen-Maclean, explaining that such support results in fewer 911 calls and the -escalation.
One of the goals, she said, is to guide the person to services so he or she can access care, just like Quebecers who aren’t walking the streets. “We are seeing improvements in access to services. But it’s not perfect. There is still work to be done,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2024.
Canadian Press’ healthcare coverage is supported through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
Katrine Desautels, The Canadian Press