The temporary shelter for homeless people of the CARE Montreal organization is moving again: after the Center Pierre-Chabonneau and the Auberge Royal Versailles, it will be relocated to the basement of the Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc church on 30 april.
Posted at 7:05 p.m.
The new shelter located on rue de Chambly, in a residential area near Lalancette Park, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, will be able to accommodate 70 people and will be open permanently for the next 12 months, the City of Montreal announced on Friday.
The 120-seat refuge of the Auberge Royal Versailles, housed in a hotel on Sherbrooke Street, near the Radisson metro station in the Longue-Pointe district, had raised many complaints in its neighborhood. A petition with more than 1,000 names had been filed with the borough council last September to denounce problems of drug use, dirtiness and acts of incivility committed by certain users of the shelter, which disturbed the citizens of the sector. .
Social mediation patrols were then set up to try to reduce tensions and make the residents of the shelter aware of the problems of cohabitation with the rest of the population.
For the new refuge of the Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc church, we promise to take all measures to minimize the problems in the neighborhood, but we do not envisage such an intense outcry.
“People from Hochelaga-Maisonneuve are much better educated about homelessness, we’ve been doing homelessness interventions in the neighborhood for 30 years, so I don’t think we’ll have the same cohabitation issues,” says Michel Monette, Executive Director of CARE Montreal. “But we have teams of responders who have already started crisscrossing the neighborhood to notify the population that we were coming. »
“We are working on an action plan to look carefully at how to promote social cohabitation, we are looking in particular at the layout of public space, cleanliness and communication”, adds Josefina Blanco, head of inclusion. social and homelessness to the executive committee of the City of Montreal.
Citizens’ complaints did not lead to the closure of the Auberge Royal Versailles refuge. It is rather the decision of the management of the hotel, which wishes to resume its activities, specifies Mme White.
Lack of places
“We had been looking for a more suitable place than the Auberge Royal Versailles for several months now,” explains Michel Monette.
The fact that the hotel does not have large common areas, for example, forced residents to eat in their rooms, which made it difficult for the organization to intervene.
At the Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc church, common areas will be set up, including a large dining room. However, users will be housed in open cubicles rather than in closed rooms with bathrooms, as in a hotel, which obviously offers less privacy.
“We have no choice, we do with what we have, drops Michel Monette. It is certain that the best solution would be to find apartments for them. »
The new shelter has 50 places less than the old one, which is also a problem, he laments. “There are 300 places missing in the shelters in Montreal for the summer, so it is certain that we will find users in the public space”, warns Mr. Monette.