Accueil Bonneau, which is struggling with a deficit for a third consecutive year, will stop offering meals on weekends starting January 6, we have learned. The Press. And the survival of the entire food service, essential every day for some 400 people in homeless or precarious situations, will be “in danger” from the month of February without additional funding from Quebec.
What there is to know
- Accueil Bonneau will stop providing meals to people in homeless or precarious situations on weekends starting January 6.
- Without help from Quebec, the entire food service will be compromised by February.
- The organization is facing a “very difficult” financial situation, unheard of in almost 150 years.
The management of the Old Montreal organization, founded more than 150 years ago, fears a “catastrophe which could have serious consequences for the ecosystem of the fight against homelessness in Greater Montreal”.
In a letter sent on December 18 to the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, and that The Press has obtained, Accueil Bonneau is asking for “a lasting solution to [son] recurring and chronic financing issue” to avoid “a major service breakdown within a few weeks”, i.e. from February.
Last week, Minister Carmant and his colleague Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services, each granted a discretionary amount of $25,000 “to maintain food services at Accueil Bonneau during the holiday season.”
The organization will use this $50,000 in funding from the Ministry to serve meals “5 days a week rather than 7 as was the case until now, which will allow us to spread out over time the amounts we you have granted,” explain in their letter Chantal Fortin, president of the board of directors of Accueil Bonneau, and Fiona Crossling, general director.
This emergency fund roughly corresponds to one month of meal distribution.
Without additional funding, “in addition to depriving 400 people daily of[un] essential and vital service, Accueil Bonneau would then have to lay off several employees.”
“Inadequate” funding
Reached by telephone, Mme Crossling says ending weekend meal distribution is a “heartbreaking” decision and a last resort.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Fiona Crossling, general director of Accueil Bonneau
Food aid “is an essential service, but which does not fit into the PSOC funding envelope [Programme de soutien aux organismes communautaires], she laments. Accueil Bonneau offers transitional and long-term housing, but does not offer 24/7 emergency accommodation. Since we do not check this box, our requests to increase the funding category at the mission are not accepted. »
However, Accueil Bonneau accommodates or supports more than 400 people through different social housing.
Although Fiona Crossling claims to have “good listening” to Minister Lionel Carmant, the situation is untenable, she judges. Labor costs, the end of pandemic aid, inflation and increasing social needs are all factors that are weighing down the shelter’s finances.
The organization recorded deficits of approximately $400,000 in 2021 and 2022 and more than $600,000 in 2023, sums that the Accueil Bonneau Foundation – which had to liquidate its investments – is no longer able to cover. ‘absorb.
Management also ensures that it has done its utmost to reduce its management budget.
Mme Crossling estimates the public assistance needed at $700,000 per year for food services and at $1.2 million for the entire mission, which includes, among other things, psychosocial interventions, health care and financial support. and legal.
“Meals are the main gateway for people to get off the street,” explains the general director. They come to eat, then they meet our workers who direct them to housing and a whole continuum of services. »
Worried users
Sitting in a corner of the cafeteria, Jean-François Guilbault, Pierre Boyer and Peter are dismayed when they learn that the food aid services at Accueil Bonneau are in danger.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Pierre Boyer
On weekends, there are lines every morning here. I don’t know where they’re going to get their food. I live at Maison Eugénie-Bernier, so it’s okay, I have food aid cards. But for non-residents, it makes no sense. I don’t understand.
Pierre Boyer, beneficiary of Accueil Bonneau services
The meal service allows people experiencing homelessness not only to “feed themselves, but also to break isolation,” notes Jean-François Guilbault, who has used the services of Accueil Bonneau for four years. A single event, he says, led him to drug use, then to the street. “Homelessness can happen to anyone,” he says, recalling that even the proverbial “middle class” struggles to make ends meet.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Jean-François Guilbault
Frédéric Michaud, chef at Accueil Bonneau, sees more and more families converging on Rue de la Commune in search of a hot meal.
The beneficiaries we met are unanimous: the end of meals would pose challenges not only to physical health, but also to public safety in the neighborhood. “If people are hungry and don’t have anything to eat, there’s a lot more chance that they’ll steal their food or commit mischief,” says Peter, who asks us not to give his last name so not to be exposed to the judgment of his family.
“First of all, I fear for people’s physical and mental health,” said Fiona Crossling, general director of Accueil Bonneau. “They depend on these services for their survival. These are people like you and me, very intelligent, who need support to escape poverty. Homelessness in Montreal has increased significantly, and the main reason is because people have not been able to pay their rent and have lost their housing. This makes people in precarious situations even more vulnerable. »
Minister Lionel Carmant was not available to answer our questions Friday afternoon.