The mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, joined her voice on Thursday to a panoply of homeless organizations in the metropolis to demand the sustainability of the hundreds of emergency places set up in particular in hotels in recent months.
Every year, winter measures are put in place to limit the number of people who end up on the streets in Montreal during the cold season. In recent months, the City has requisitioned downtown hotels and sports facilities to install beds dedicated to the homeless, especially for those with COVID-19. Funding for these additional resources for permanent shelters in the city must end on March 31, however.
“That’s why we are here in front of you, because we want to mobilize all the partners to prepare for spring and summer,” said Ms. Plante Thursday afternoon during a press conference. held at Montreal City Hall. She then expressed the importance of getting out of the “seasonal logic” which currently dictates the resources released annually to help the homeless in the metropolis.
A motion that will be debated during the next meeting of the municipal council, next Monday, thus urges the Government of Quebec to “perpetuate” the places released on a temporary basis in the form in particular of emergency accommodation sites and drop-in heat.
Ms. Plante has also not ruled out the possibility of concluding agreements with some of the hotels that currently host, among other things, a shelter for homeless natives so that they can continue to maintain this vocation.
More details will follow.
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