The City of Montreal must do more and better to help homeless people, in particular by doubling budgets and increasing the number of places reserved for women, argues opposition councilor Benoit Langevin, who will table a motion on this subject at the city council meeting Monday.
“The problem is getting worse, but from a budgetary perspective, there is no logic or correlation in relation to the needs,” affirms the elected official from Ensemble Montréal in an interview at Duty. He calls for increasing the budgets of homeless community groups and street workers from 6 million to 12 million.
The figures from the last counting exercise — an incomplete measure since it does not take into account hidden homelessness — show an increase of 44% in homelessness in Quebec, and of 33% on the island of Montreal.
This increase is also felt among women experiencing homelessness, who increased from 22.9% in 2018 to 29.3% in 2022, recalls the elected official in his motion. And since we know that women experience more hidden homelessness, several groups argue that, in reality, this figure is much higher.
The Partnership for the Prevention and Combat of Women’s Homelessness, which brings together five housing resources for women in Montreal, had to refuse 25,000 requests for accommodation last year due to lack of space, adds the elected. It is also based on a series of articles from Duty which reported that women avoid going to mixed shelters for fear of suffering sexual violence there. He recalls that the opposition parties in Quebec are also calling for more accommodation spaces reserved for women experiencing homelessness.
“We really need to highlight that we have an extremely urgent need for women,” proclaims Mr. Langevin.
Groundhog Day
He also asks Valérie Plante’s administration to take the lead in the fight against homelessness and to stop waiting for Quebec’s “grocery list” to act. “It is false to say that in terms of homelessness, it is 100% a responsibility of Quebec,” says the advisor. We have all the expertise, we have a social development department, we have a commissioner for the fight against homelessness, but we are not able to determine the needs of Montreal? I have a very hard time believing that. »
He repeats that we must move away from the “seasonal logic” which consists of opening places at the last minute for the winter season, in order to prevent homeless people from freezing to death in the street. “Winter is coming, like every year,” he said on the phone, sighing. It’s Groundhog Day again. There is no planning or clear commitment from the municipality. »
According to him, it is “essential that the City of Montreal finally plays its role as coordinator in opening up accommodation resources before the winter season begins.”