Often described as a neighbourhood that has fallen into disarray, the Village is starting to get back on its feet, according to the Village’s Commercial Development Corporation (SDC), which has noted a drop in the vacancy rate of commercial buildings. However, drug addiction, homelessness and mental health issues have not been resolved. To maintain some beauty and ensure cleanliness on the commercial artery, a special squad has been set up for the summer season by the merchants’ association.
“There is a pride that has eroded over the years,” acknowledges Gabrielle Rondy, general manager of the SDC du Village. “I can’t wait for merchants to regain the pride of doing business in the Village.” What encourages her is that about twenty new businesses have opened their doors since the beginning of the year or are about to do so, she says. The vacancy rate for premises is now 13%, while it was over 20% over the last three years.
A new squad
For the summer pedestrianization, the SDC created a new squad by relying on the resources of the neighborhood. This squad is made up of residents of the area who are familiar with the street environment, having themselves used, at one point in their lives, the Maison du Père, located in the neighborhood.
René D. and Claude P. know the Village by heart. Wearing their pink squad-identified t-shirts, they walk the shopping street several times a week to maintain the flower boxes and furniture installed for the summer season.
Rather than hiring a company to do the work, the SDC turned to Maison du Père for employees. Claude and René have been to the shelter before, but they now live in Maison Wolfe, a building with 54 low-rent studios that Maison du Père manages to provide a roof over the heads of troubled men who want to get their lives back on track. The stay in the house is usually for a maximum of five years.
“I know all the homeless people,” explains Claude, 72. His teammate, René, 63, admits that the neighbourhood is not peaceful, being frequented by a vulnerable population struggling with homelessness, drug addiction and mental health issues. Near the Berri-UQAM metro station, there are sometimes conflicts between people on the street, he points out. “We go straight through and come back later,” he says.
At a rate of about 12 hours per week, with a salary of $22 per hour, Claude and René teamed up together when The duty met them. “I thought it was important to pay them fairly. I didn’t want them to feel that it was a job that I wouldn’t have done myself. I see them as ambassadors on the ground,” explains Gabrielle Rondy.
For both men, this job is physically demanding, but rewarding. It brings them closer to greater autonomy, far from the demons that inhabited them at a certain time in their lives. René has always loved plants, but he has discovered a passion for horticulture and is thinking of continuing in this field.
Two universes meet
But this brigade also allows two worlds to meet, that of men with sometimes difficult pasts and the world of the LGBTQ+ community. To supervise the teams on the ground, the SDC hired Sasha Baga, a professional drag queen, who devotes two days a week to the squad and travels along Sainte-Catherine Street East with her water containers to water the approximately 200 potted plants on the shopping street.
For her, it’s a way to explore a new universe. “I’m a very open trans woman. I’ve done TV shows, so people recognize me. These men didn’t know me,” she says of the squad’s employees. “They’ve probably never been confronted with a trans woman, a very exuberant and outgoing drag queen. I wondered how they were going to handle it. In the end, it seems like we’ve known each other for 30 years.”
When he spoke to Wolfe House residents about the project, André Leroux, housing retention coordinator at Maison du Père, warned potential applicants that they would have to adhere to a dress code they probably wouldn’t like: wearing a pink T-shirt. In the end, the new employees donned their uniforms without flinching.
When will the recovery take place?
Despite the intervention strategy for the Village announced by Mayor Valérie Plante in June 2023 and the cautious optimism of the SDC, Daniel Matte, a resident of the Village for five years, believes that the situation in the neighbourhood has hardly improved. A member of the board of directors of the Association citoyenne du Village de Montréal (ACVMtl), he says that the quality of life of residents continues to deteriorate. “There has been an improvement in the police presence. That much must be said,” he says. “But there is a lot of misery on the streets.”
He blames the authorities and organizations that work in the sector for constantly advocating in favor of “cohabitation,” a concept that is difficult to accept for residents, who witness acts of incivility and drug use on a daily basis. “Does cohabitation mean that we have to get used to it?” asks Mr. Matte.
A former press attaché in the publishing industry, Daniel Matte bought a condo in the neighbourhood five years ago. “I don’t feel like selling, I feel like solving the problem,” he says. “But would I buy a condo right now? I have to tell you no.”
He hopes that this vulnerable population can get off the streets, even though he is aware of the complexity of the situation. “There is already a lot of help, but I would like to see better coordination between all the organizations and governments,” he says.