Household assistance | Montreal prepares for July 1

Montreal does not foresee a wave of homeless people in 1^er July, but the City is preparing to provide assistance to a few hundred households that have not found new housing.

“Currently, since the beginning of 2023, 314 households in need have contacted us for housing loss issues, while there were 386 last year” at the same period, indicated the director of the management of requests, affordable housing and rent supplements from the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal (OMHM), Vincent Brossard, Thursday at a press conference.

Of this number, 61 receive more support, because they have lost their accommodation or are about to lose it, while seven are currently staying in hotels because they are homeless.

Since the beginning of the year, 39 households have benefited from the emergency shelter service, compared to 25 at the same time last year.

The City expects to have to provide emergency accommodation to 30 to 40 households on the 1^er July.

During 2022, 136 households used emergency accommodation at different times, usually for a few weeks.

More vulnerable

According to Vincent Brossard, households requesting assistance are now more vulnerable and often need accommodation for a longer period.

“It’s not just low-income households that have trouble finding housing, but also middle-class families,” said Benoit Dorais, head of housing on the executive committee. “The housing crisis causes a series of human tragedies throughout the year” and not only the 1^er July, he adds.

The press conference was held in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, in an area where the median household income is $29,000 per year, noted borough mayor Pierre Lessard-Blais. “With such an income, when you lose your four and a half at $700 a month, it’s impossible to find another one,” he said. People have to move outside of Montreal. »

Immediately, people who need help finding new housing can call 311, where they will be directed to the right resources in their area.

But beyond the emergency, “we must tackle the crisis in a sustainable way. We have to do prevention, build, build, build, and preserve the affordable housing stock,” says Mr. Dorais, appealing to Quebec and Ottawa for the necessary funding to be provided.

In the coming months, the OMHM plans to put about 800 housing units back on the market in its HLMs, which can be assigned to some of the 24,000 households on its waiting list, indicated Valérie Rhême, head of communications for the OMHM. More than 300 of these units are being renovated and should be ready for occupancy by the fall. The organization is also working to make up for the delay accumulated since the start of the pandemic in the distribution of free housing, which must be allocated to the right people.