A new rooming house for low-income people with mental health problems was inaugurated Monday in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal. However, the organization behind this initiative fears that it will not be able to repeat it in the future due to the announced end of the AccèsLogis program.
Representatives of the three levels of government met early Monday afternoon inside the building on Rachel Street East where a private rooming house that can accommodate 28 households was acquired by the non-profit organization Habitation Montréal ( OHM) so that the rents offered there remain affordable. All of the building’s tenants will also have access to the Quebec government’s rent supplement program, which allows its beneficiaries to pay only 25% of their income to stay in newly renovated rooms, about ten minutes walk from La Fontaine Park.
“You can never have too many rooming houses like this. With their services, they are real ramparts against homelessness,” said Plateau-Mont-Royal borough councilor responsible for the Mile End district, Marie Sterlin, on Monday.
To carry out this project, an amount of $5.4 million was invested, half of which was paid by the Government of Quebec, through the AccèsLogis Montréal program. The federal government, the Metropolitan Community of Montreal and a loan from the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Montreal paid the rest of the bill.
The Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, however, confirmed last February the imminent end of the AccèsLogis program, which since 1997 has been helping non-profit organizations to finance social and community housing projects in the province. The Legault government will officially replace it with the Quebec Affordable Housing Program (PHAQ), when the funds still available in AccèsLogis have been exhausted.
“Additional Funding”
“I can’t hide a little concern, because if today OHM were to try to make a second home, in the current state of the programs, well, we wouldn’t be able to do it since we don’t currently have a offer of programs which would make it possible to finance this type of project in the same way ”, noted Monday in a press conference the secretary of the board of directors of the OHM organization, Claire Garnier, under the gaze of France-Élaine Duranceau.
Questioned on this subject, Minister Duranceau argued that the PHAQ “targets exactly the same clienteles” as AccèsLogis, while offering reduced administrative burden, an analysis that calls into question Mr.me Garnier. The Minister also assured that “additional funding” would be announced for the construction of social and affordable housing, without going further on this point.
Among the tenants of the building are people who have recently been hospitalized in connection with mental health problems. The rooming house also wishes to serve as a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence, homeless people and refugees, among others. In order to support these people in precarious situations, OHM has obtained the help of the Ministry of Health and Social Services so that two specialized workers are present on site daily, for more than ten hours a day.
This announcement also comes as 38 households having had to leave their apartments on the sidelines of 1er July are still temporarily housed in hotel establishments, noted the head of housing on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, Benoit Dorais. Another sign, if necessary, that the needs for social housing “are really glaring”, added the elected official.