Quebec cities are calling for a national initiative to end homelessness, an issue that is getting worse in both small and large municipalities. Thursday, a dozen elected officials took the floor, in Quebec, to claim the help of the government, a level which still does not take the measure of the burden that poverty imposes on the municipal level.
“The status quo is untenable, hammered the mayor of the national capital, Bruno Marchand. The situation, if we keep it as it is, just leads to a deterioration of social ties. »
The press briefing took place at Lauberivière, the largest homeless shelter in Quebec City. The establishment, founded more than 40 years ago, has seen a dramatic increase in needs in recent years.
“We had 24,000 bedtimes in 2017, we had 43,500 last year. In six, it increased by 75%,” said Éric Boulay, the general manager of the place. Behind him, a dozen mayors, including the president of the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ), Daniel Côté, joined their voices to his to demand the reinforcement of the Quebec government. The mayors of Gatineau and Laval could not be present, held back by the ice storm which was hurting their city.
The municipalities had a message for the National Assembly: they must deal more and more with homelessness, a responsibility that they nevertheless have less and less capacity to accomplish. The cities navigate blind, without data or countdown to measure the effect of their actions. They also have to deal with limited budgets in the face of homelessness, which continues to grow.
“Getting up is out of the question,” said Mayor Marchand. But it is also out of the question to act alone. »
The UMQ wants the government to make the fight against homelessness a national priority. The mayor of Quebec directly challenges Prime Minister François Legault: the latter “should make it a social project. »
Finland, believes Bruno Marchand, testifies “that homelessness is not inevitable. “Freshly returned from a mission in this Scandinavian country, the elected representative of Quebec applauds the Finnish approach, which succeeded in reducing from 18,000 to 4,000 the number of homeless people on its territory. Finland’s ambition does not stop there: the country wants to eliminate homelessness by 2027.
“Finland is able to calculate its number of homeless people each year. We, some years we have a portrait, other years, nothing at all. We need an annual portrait: for the moment, insisted the elected representative of Quebec, there are people of heart who invest themselves but without data, we are unable to compare ourselves, nor to know what we can do better. »
Commitments before fall
The mayors and mayoress met Thursday morning the Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant, to share their grievances. The member for Taillon, told the mayor of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, fell from the clouds listening to their issues.
“The minister was very surprised by the needs we were talking about and the realities we were experiencing,” said the mayor of Montérégie. He really said by name: “there is money left in all regions for homelessness.” How come we don’t have it in the community? […] It is when we are in a state of crisis, when a service is about to close, that [le gouvernement] seems to find a drawer bottom and he gives it to us. We cannot, still lamented Mme Bouchard, always begging for the most vulnerable population. »
The government of François Legault had launched, in the midst of a pandemic, the interdepartmental action plan on homelessness 2021-2026, with an envelope of $280 million. In it, the Prime Minister recognized the worsening of the phenomenon and promised “not to let down” homeless people.
“This action plan is meant to be a breath of fresh air,” wrote Minister Carmant. Barely two years later, cities and communities already feel like they are running out of steam.
The UMQ has already set up a committee dedicated to homelessness. On September 15, the union will organize a summit in Quebec entirely dedicated to this issue. By then, she hopes the government will have made firm commitments on housing and homelessness.
“It can’t be answers that come in a year, two years, three years,” said Bruno Marchand, who expects the government to make announcements before the summit scheduled for the end of the summer. .
In particular, the UMQ is calling for a national fund to make up for the housing shortage that is rife and that is causing people in the process of reintegration to come up against doors that are too expensive for their income. The Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, expressed her “interest”, specified the mayor of Quebec.
“Beyond the suffering humans, there are also economic arguments. There are Belgian figures that say that a homeless person costs society $60,000. As soon as we are able to find a place for her, before she has even been able to reintegrate, we are at $40,000. Just allowing people to find accommodation, concluded Bruno Marchand, is less costly for the community. »