Every first of the month, a queue forms in front of organizations helping homeless people: homeless people want to cash their social assistance check. They leave with cash in their pockets, since many of them do not have a bank account.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Officer Laurent Dyke, responsible for the homelessness file within the Prevention and Urban Security Division of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), is concerned for their safety, since they are thus expose themselves to theft and can hardly stick to a budget.
In 2019, Agent Dyke therefore set up a project, with Desjardins Group, to help them open a bank account and have their social assistance check deposited directly there each month. “More than 300 people have opened a bank account,” he said. They can make withdrawals as needed and no longer end up with wads of hundreds of dollars at the beginning of the month. »
This year, it is pushing the initiative a little further, by setting up, for two days, one-stop services for people experiencing homelessness, in collaboration with the Maison du Père and other partners.
Start “the administrative procedures”
In particular, they will be able to obtain a health insurance card, open a bank account, obtain legal information, apply for social assistance or old age security, manage their fines, review their probation file, obtain help to fight an addiction to alcohol or drugs, take steps to find a job, etc.
All the speakers will be on site and private meetings may take place.
“We will not only provide information, we will really be able to start the administrative procedures that people need”, explains agent Dyke
A bus will bring homeless people who want to obtain these services to the Maison du Père, which means they don’t have to travel to different offices in the four corners of the city.
The one-stop shops will take place this Thursday, as well as Tuesday, November 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Do the police now find themselves doing the work of community organizations?
“My priority, as a police officer, is to ensure the safety of people experiencing homelessness,” replied Constable Dyke. I look at what the issues are for these people, and I try to find solutions. »