The City of Montreal is closing its huge shelter for homeless people infected with COVID-19, which opened a month ago in its soccer stadium on Papineau Avenue.
Posted at 3:37 p.m.
The installation of 350 places had been made necessary by the outbreak of the Omicron variant which occurred in the middle of a cold snap, in the first days of 2022.
The Old Brewery Mission, which operated the center, was seeing “a decrease in the number of people in need of isolation,” said James Hughes, head of the organization. In total, “310 different people” have taken refuge in the soccer stadium over the past month, for stays of a few days.
It is now the Abri du voyageur, with a capacity of 70 beds, which will serve as an isolation shelter for homeless people with COVID-19. “It’s quite appropriate given that the demand has dropped a lot,” said Mr. Hugues.
The man said he was confident that a possible next wave of COVID-19 could be absorbed without resorting to the stadium again, thanks to a requisitioned hotel that the City of Montreal is keeping in reserve.
The Concordia Soccer Association, which has 11,000 players, asked the City of Montreal to explore other options for setting up its isolation shelter, given the gradual deconfinement of team sports.