Mission St-Michael, housed in the basement of St. John the Evangelist Church, at the corner of Avenue du Président-Kennedy and Rue Saint-Urbain, packs its boxes.
At the end of the month, this homeless shelter will have to leave the premises it has occupied for 94 years, in downtown Montreal.
“We have to move, we have no choice,” explains interim director Julie Faulkner, visibly overwhelmed. “We are not part of the church’s redevelopment plans. Our lease has ended and it has not been renewed. »
The small team at St. Michael’s Mission heard the news several months ago. The refuge will close on December 23, but will not disappear. He will be able to reopen gradually from January 5, in the basement of another church, rue Stanley, near Windsor station, where he has just signed a lease.
This comes at a cost: her rent will go from $3,000 to around $5,000 a month.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The interim director of St. Michael’s Mission, Julie Faulkner
“We have not received any help from the governments, deplores Mme Faulkner. We made requests, but we were told that there was no money in the budgets, that we had to manage on our own. We had to do a fundraising campaign and solicit foundations. »
Mission St-Michael is a day center that welcomes, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., around 200 homeless people. The organization serves two hot meals a day, in addition to providing emergency food aid, clothing, showers and psychosocial support.
Last winter, it had received a grant from the City of Montreal to turn into a heat shelter, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in order to meet the most pressing needs. But this winter, the refuge has not been asked to extend its opening hours and will therefore remain a day center, regardless of the weather.
“We don’t have the financial resources,” confirms the director. We would like to stay open longer because there is a big vacuum when we close at 3 p.m. Where do our clients go ? What are they doing ? Night shelters don’t open until 8 p.m., and there aren’t enough of them anyway. »
Help, no questions asked
One of the particularities of the St-Michael Mission is that clients are not required to say their name or answer questions from the speakers. “They come home, have their coffee, do what they have to do, explains Mme Faulkner. We accept everyone. We don’t ask questions. We give them food, clothes. If they want services, we’re there to help them, but we don’t ask questions. »
The arrival of the cold makes us fear the worst.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Cook Lais Ernesti, with the help of an employee, prepares lunch in the shelter’s kitchen.
“It’s more catastrophic than ever,” says the director. There are no emergency shelters in place. From time to time, we hear that there are 25 more beds here and 25 beds there. But we absolutely need a place where people can go. In most programs, like housing, people need to be able to register. Our clients are drug addicts, consumers; they cannot enroll in a program. »
“It’s a real crisis,” she adds. We have never seen a year like this. All the money is put into housing because it’s something you can track, you can demonstrate and you can prove. But when it comes to just helping people who are on the streets, there doesn’t seem to be any funding available. »
The Press tried unsuccessfully to contact the leadership of St. John the Evangelist Church.