(Montreal) As the cold weather of the winter season approaches, Quebec grants more than 9.6 million to the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center (CIUSSS) of South-Central Montreal Island in order to better support people experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless.
The Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, made the announcement Friday morning alongside the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, and Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development, Pierre Fitzgibbon, as well as from the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante.
This amount will be used to increase the supply of emergency shelters in the metropolis. We therefore aim to increase the number of beds and allow organizations to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In the very short term, 188 new beds will be made available to people experiencing homelessness. Most in existing organizations which have agreed to increase their reception capacity.
However, we especially want to create places in 24/7 services in order to provide reintegration services to people who then want to benefit from supervised housing.
On this subject, Minister Carmant promised the upcoming announcement of 200 new supervised housing units in the coming weeks.
Although we hope to be able to meet demand, Mayor Valérie Plante assured that the metropolis stands ready to open temporary stops if necessary. In the past, gymnasiums or other public places were transformed into dormitories to prevent people from spending the night in the cold.