It is not during extreme cold, like the one that begins this month, that the homeless are most at risk, pleads the president of the main homelessness resource in Val-d’Or. Frostbite happens more, he says, when the weather is warmer and homelessness is not on anyone’s radar.
“It’s not during these very cold weather that we have problems with homeless people”, says Stéphane Grenier, president of the La Piaule refuge. “It’s when it’s 5 degrees Celsius or -5 that we manage frostbite. »
In very cold weather, people are more “generous”, traders more tolerant, he insists. “They offer coffees, go get tuques, mittens. »
Homeless people, for their part, are more careful to dress warmly in freezing weather. “When it’s less cold, they are more at risk,” continues the worker who also teaches social work at the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT).
“Often in the spring. They walk in the slush, their feet are soaked. If they set foot in a water hole in the morning, it will be wet all day,” he continues. “And there comes a gust of north wind and it starts to minus five. After five or six hours with a frozen foot, that’s when you get the famous chilblains. »
For the past few days, the media have been paying particular attention to homelessness issues due to the Siberian weather looming on the horizon.
Will there be enough places in the shelters to accommodate all the homeless? How do you make sure no one freezes to death?
The minister says he has “filled in the blanks”
In the National Assembly on Thursday, the government had to answer many questions on this subject.
“People will be forced to sleep on the street, it doesn’t make sense! The minister must tell us what he intends to do, what his plan is,” launched the Liberal MP for D’Arcy-McGee, Elisabeth Prass.
Québec solidaire spokesperson Manon Massé, for her part, demanded that the government make public an up-to-date “portrait” of the homelessness situation in Québec. “Where is this portrait that he was supposed to provide […] to show that his solution is correct? »
The minister responsible for social services replied that the government had “opened shelters in all the municipalities that did not have enough of them”. “Wherever the last count showed us that there were gaps, we filled these gaps,” said Lionel Carmant.
However, the Minister does not rule out intervening at the last minute if necessary. “We have always been there and we will be again this week. »
In his speech, Minister Carmant also claimed to have “solved” the problems of Val-d’Or in the morning.
On Wednesday, homeless people demonstrated in the Abitibi town to demand access to a place to warm up. “Hot, hot, hot, we want to sleep warm,” they chanted in the evening.
The main shelter in Val-d’Or has just over fifty beds. A number that has become insufficient over time. The organization has therefore set up an overflow site in the basement of the church where about thirty mattresses are strewn on the ground.
Help but not enough
However, the place is poorly insulated and the presence of homeless people therefore causes tensions with residents and merchants in the city center, says Stéphane Grenier. In August, La Piaule rented premises in a former video club in another sector of the city.
It was then that a city inspector pointed out that work was needed to make the premises comply with the requirements of the Régie du bâtiment. Miscellaneous work, sprinklers… The construction bill went from $30,000 to $145,000, explains the president of La Piaule. And the deadlines have stretched.
Thus, not only is the new location not available, but the organization must maintain the service at the church in the meantime. Therefore, he has to pay two rents.
Minister Carmant pledged Thursday to pay that of the church until the other premises are ready. A very welcome intervention. But from there to saying that the government is doing “enough”, there is a margin, specifies Stéphane Grenier.
La Piaule is dealing with a deficit of $100,000 this year, in particular because it had to raise the salaries of its employees to keep them, he points out.
And Val-d’Or does not have a day center to welcome homeless people. So they hang around downtown. “We end up with crowds all along Third Avenue. There are no toilets outside so they end up shitting at the back of the buildings, which depresses the shopkeepers…”.
As reported The duty in a recent podcast, the pandemic has caused homelessness to affect a greater number of cities, particularly in the regions.
But Val-d’Or has been faced with this issue for a very long time. Same thing for the housing crisis that was already hitting the city of Abitibi before. “We have been in a housing crisis since 2006,” recalls Mr. Grenier. It has been 18 years since our vacancy rate exceeded 3%. »