Anti-bureaucracy remedy for housing the homeless

We could call it the 1 million innovation, the $11,000 solution, or even the miracle for hundreds of homeless people.

You can call it what you want, but one thing is certain: it is one of the best examples of use of public funds that I have seen in a long time.

A million dollars that will house at least 90 people in Montreal, this year alone, in real apartments, with real leases, signed in their name. Eleven thousand dollars per head, on average.

So what is it about?

From a program invented from scratch during the pandemic, which was carried out at arm’s length by community organizations, with the help of private sector owners.

A program, too, which was skillfully financed by the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, the supreme authority in matters of homelessness, despite a thousand and one bureaucratic pitfalls which could have prevent it from seeing the light of day.

A program, finally, which will only resolve a small part of the current crisis, but which could – and should – make its way into the gargantuan Quebec administrative machine.

Let’s dive back into 2021, into the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, a new cohort of Montrealers found themselves on the streets. People with already precarious status that the health crisis has tipped, recent immigrants, evicted people… They are housed in emergency shelters, like that of the Place Dupuis hotel, near the Berri-UQAM metro station.

Community workers on the ground quickly identify these new faces. They question them, ask them what they need to get out of this bad situation.

In 90% of cases, the answer is simple: accommodation.

And a little help to access it.

Thanks to “COVID funds” released urgently by Quebec, the CIUSSS is financing a pilot project of the Mission Bon Accueil. The group’s stakeholders embarked on intensive canvassing and approached building owners, one by one, to ask them if they would agree to sign a lease with a citizen in need.

The challenge is immense, even frightening, but the organization offers guarantees to owners. He will pay the first three to five months of rent, provide some furniture, and will guarantee any damage that could be caused by the new tenant, among other things.

The project is working: the Mission Bon Accueil has succeeded since 2021 in having 263 leases signed, for a total of 333 people placed in housing (in some cases couples or families). No fewer than 281 are still in their apartments to this day, as many people who are no longer on the street today.

Important clarification: these are people who were not “disaffiliated”, to use the jargon, and did not have serious problems such as heavy drug addiction or severe mental illness. Some even had a job, despite their precarious status.

The Mission Bon Accueil pilot project, renamed Rapid Entry into Housing (ERL) and since extended to other community organizations, could never have seen the light of day within the strict framework of the usual government rules.

He didn’t fit into any box.

There is already a rent supplement program, paid by Quebec, but this must automatically pass through the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal, which signs leases on its behalf. A cumbersome process that takes months and involves a mountain of documents to collect.

The CIUSSS leaves great latitude to community organizations to house the homeless, but in exchange, it “wants results”. Speed ​​of action is crucial, insists M^me Giroux. “The longer you wait to place someone who has problems in housing, the more problems they will develop. »

The million dollars invested by the CIUSSS this year in the ERL program will be used to pay the first months of rent for approximately 90 people, as well as the fees of the organizations that did all the canvassing and support.

There is no complete assessment of the exercise yet, but at $11,000 on average to get someone off the street, it looks like an excellent deal. Both for new tenants and for the State.

The Legault government is following the progress of this program with interest, I am told.

I hope.

And how does it work, concretely, in the Montreal buildings where these formerly homeless people ended up? Pretty good, based on the three owners I spoke to.

Andrew Pecs, an accountant in his sixties who owns six apartments in the southwest of the island, agreed to rent two of them to tenants recommended by the Mission Bon Accueil. A large four and a half for a woman of African origin and her two children, and a studio for a young man of North African origin.

I mention their origin because Mr. Pecs, the son of Hungarian immigrants who arrived here in 1956 with five dollars in his pocket, firmly believes in this idea of ​​giving a new start to people who really need it, like his parents at era.

Its two tenants pay rubbish every month and are employed.

“I want to support hard-working people, who want to improve their lot, and do not want to depend on the government,” he told me.

The Montrealer, who has chosen to grant a discount of around 15% on his usual rents at his own expense, encourages owners of apartment buildings to do the same. “I understand that we are in a capitalist society where we have to make money, but there is also the concept of giving back. If you have multiple rental units, perhaps you can consider renting one. »

The ERL program and the generosity of landlords like Andrew Pecs alone will certainly not solve the homelessness crisis. Many of the people on the streets have serious problems that require suitable housing and strong supervision. The needs are titanic.

But it is certainly a compelling example of what can be done by adding a few drops of lubricant, and a dose of good faith, to the creaking cogs of the administrative machine.

Lubrication which will be more and more necessary, since the crisis shows no sign of wanting to resolve.