A few days ago, the Quebec government announced its new action plan to fight homelessness: an investment of $ 280 million over five years – including $ 10 million reserved for women’s emergency accommodation services. and transition.
Good news, you will say! But, when we know that the female population in a situation of visible homelessness represents 23% of the total homeless population, in Montreal alone (Movement to end homelessness, 2018), and that the pandemic has grown more and more more women towards precariousness, even homelessness, one can wonder if this budget is really sufficient for the growing needs of this population.
To give you an idea, at the Chez Doris day shelter for women, nearly 900 unique homeless women were welcomed during the last fiscal year. That’s double the pre-COVID-19 data. That’s a lot of women to help and (re) house …
Emergency and transitional accommodation reserved only for women is a great necessity in the Montreal landscape. Often victimized in mixed services, women represent only 35% of respondents in transitional accommodation (Movement to end homelessness, 2018). Even more, according to the Accommodation capacity report 2019 from Employment and Social Development Canada, only 219 of the 1901 emergency beds available in Quebec are reserved for women, including 177 in Montreal. To respond to this glaring lack of beds, several organizations have set about developing new emergency and transitional accommodation projects. In this regard, Chez Doris will open an overnight shelter with 22 emergency beds by spring 2022. As of December 2020, Chez Doris also provides night services, which operate in a block of 40 hotel rooms.
Are 22 emergency beds sufficient for the nearly 900 homeless women who have passed through the doors of our day shelter in the past year? You don’t have to be a mathematician to see that there is an inconsistency here.
Let’s take a closer look at the figures in the action plan. On a budget of $ 10 million, spread over five years, that makes $ 2 million per year to invest in emergency and transitional accommodation in Quebec. This amount will then be divided by municipality, then by organization. What will we have left in the end? Almost nothing…
The government’s desire to open new emergency and transitional shelters reserved for women in Quebec is remarkable and we applaud it. However, the budget proposed in the action plan does not take into account the costs incurred by the management of these establishments, and the psychosocial services and follow-ups offered to these women, who often have serious mental health problems, who have been victims of violence or affected by drug addiction. All costs added together, we clearly exceed 2 million per year.
While we need more emergency and transitional housing for homeless women, we will not be able to solve the problem of female homelessness by simply providing housing. We must think of other possible solutions and tackle this issue in a more holistic way. By investing in the prevention of precariousness, homelessness and mental health, perhaps we will find one or more solutions to end female homelessness in Quebec.
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