Due to the shortage of affordable housing, Montreal expects to receive approximately 15% more requests for rehousing assistance than last year in anticipation of the 1er July. The City of Montreal has set aside a sum of $3.5 million to cover the moving period, two million more than in 2019.
In recent years, requests for assistance received by the City and the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal (OMHM) have continued to increase. Finding yourself without a roof over your head at 1er July, some 350 households had appealed to the authorities in 2019. Last year, this number had increased to 900.
As of April 30, 2024, the OMHM has identified 244 requests for assistance since the start of the year, compared to 204 for the same period last year, Frédéric Roy, deputy director general at the OMHM, said on Wednesday. In 2023, 134 households needed accommodation for an average duration of 70 days.
The services put in place include, among other things, assistance in finding accommodation, temporary accommodation in hotels and storage of the belongings of homeless households. “These are short-term solutions,” admitted Valérie Plante. “We are really providing additional help to ensure that people do not end up on the street. But the real solution is lots of housing, social housing and affordable housing. We need to build more. »
“With the City’s partner, the OMHM, we are ready to face the 1er July,” however assured the mayor. “But it is bad news that we are forced, year after year, to put more resources into helping people who cannot find housing and who are in a state of distress. »
Dismantled camps
The City’s rehousing assistance services are not accessible to everyone. People experiencing homelessness, particularly those who use shelters or pitch their tents on public property, are instead directed to the health and social services network. Valérie Plante argued that this situation was attributable to the approach adopted by the Quebec government, which relies on accommodation resources and shelters for these people who sometimes need mental health and addiction services.
The Support Network for Single and Homeless People of Montreal (RAPSIM), which, on Tuesday evening, set up a symbolic encampment made up of a dozen tents in Victoria Square, deplores this approach. “The operation of 1er July, it is an important operation that we welcome,” indicated Annie Savage, general director of RAPSIM. “But far from everyone accesses this service for rehousing. »
A person who has been forced to stay — even for a single night — in a shelter does not have access to it, underlined M.me Savage. “Operation 1er July is a good program to prevent homelessness, but people who are already in a situation of homelessness or are considered too precarious or have too great needs are automatically shifted into the middle of homelessness which overflows and does not succeed unfortunately to meet the scale of the needs. »
RAPSIM is also calling for a moratorium on the dismantling of homeless camps. Last year, at least 460 makeshift camps were dismantled in Montreal. In certain cases, the City shows tolerance. In this regard, Mayor Plante acknowledged that the City’s policy regarding encampments was not clear. “There is no wall-to-wall politics because we are dealing with human beings,” she explained. “What we try to do is always to support people in a human way towards resources, considering that a camp is not a way of life. »
Mme Plante indicated that RAPSIM had informed the City of its camp project for a limited period and that the City had given its agreement. However, she clarified that her administration did not intend to acquiesce to the organization’s request for a moratorium on dismantling. “There are women who have been sexually assaulted because they were sleeping on a park bench or in a tent. A tent does not protect against different types of attacks. As mayor of Montreal and as a city, we cannot accept that it becomes normal for people to live on the streets. »
The mayor added that discussions were continuing with the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, for the implementation of other intermediate resources for this vulnerable population.