There are more and more elderly people on the street, many homeless organizations in Montreal note, but the services do not always keep up. While many homeless people are losing their autonomy, many shelters are not adapted and existing resources are not sufficient.
“It’s hard, very hard,” says Daniel Beauchamp in an unequivocal tone when asked to talk about the life of elderly people on the street. The 59-year-old is a man of few words, with a hard face marked by life, who very rarely lets tenderness pierce through the shell he has built for himself. He walks slowly, his back slightly hunched, using a rusty walker. “I push myself more, walking two or three miles is a lot, otherwise my back hurts,” he slips. To look at him, you’d swear he’s much older.
The street damages homeless people more quickly than the general population and the man carries the weight of many illnesses and physical traumas. Having lost his mobility for three years, Daniel sometimes encountered the closed doors of shelters which could not accommodate him because it was impossible for him to go up or down steps. And suitable places can sometimes be full, due to a lack of available beds.
“I found a hole,” says the man who sometimes had to sleep outside with his walker. “It’s made it quite dangerous, you have to have eyes all around your head,” he continues. There is more and more violence, young people attack old people. »
Elderly people or people with severe constraints receive a bigger check every 1er of the month, which arouses desire. “They see that you are vulnerable and they try to steal from you,” he said. This constant state of hypervigilance also leaves marks.
The Maison du Père and the Hôtel-Dieu are in theory the only two adapted emergency accommodation accessible for people with reduced mobility, and you must be independent, specifies Martine Bélanger, coordinator of the reception and accommodation center in referencing (CAHR) at the Maison du Père. “There are a lot of service gaps,” she said. The person who has reduced mobility, and who is more or less independent, will be blocked everywhere. So it’s the hospital that becomes responsible, but they don’t want to keep them. »
After a year of waiting, Daniel says he was able to get a room at the Maison du Père residence for autonomous and semi-autonomous people, the only one of its kind in Quebec to support those who come from the street. But with a capacity of 87 residents, it is not enough, estimates Martine Bélanger.
“When we know that there has been a 44% increase in homelessness in five years, we need other private seniors’ residences (RPA) of this type,” she believes. The RPA of the Maison du Père is often full and around twenty people were on its waiting list this summer. However, its future is uncertain and there are fears of closure in two years.
“Costs have really increased since the pandemic,” explains Alexandre Clément, director of financial services at Maison du Père. It is private donations that keep the RPA going, which does not receive specific subsidies, and its users pay much less than elsewhere to live there. “We are asking the government to commit to at least 50% of what we need to be truly sustainable,” underlines Jaëlle Begarin, president and CEO of the organization, which represents nearly a million dollars. per year.
Unsuitable shelters
“Here, it’s not suitable, and I have a lot of elderly people,” says Michelle Patenaude, general director of Cap Saint-Barnabé, installed behind her desk in a church basement in Bennett Avenue. “These are people from Hochelaga, who come from the neighborhood, and who don’t necessarily want to go to downtown Montreal. »
She smilingly calls them her “senior age club”. Several were installed together in one of the organization’s social housing buildings.
At the Hochelaga refuge, one of Cape Town’s emergency accommodations in the district, arrangements have also been made with the means at hand. Some people who come are amputees and in wheelchairs, others use a walker. “It’s not normal for the system to leave elderly amputees like that,” says Michelle Patenaude.
Cape Town sometimes takes steps to place them in residence, but some are refused because they have no references. “The first contact is difficult,” she admits. If the shelter on Hochelaga Street is more suitable than others, the arrangements are not optimal and the workers are not beneficiary attendants, she says. This leads to a rapid deterioration in the condition of users, underlines the general director. “We do what we can,” she said. But it remains a refuge. »
She notes that residential and long-term care centers (CHSLD) will become vacant due to the construction of seniors’ homes, and she is in discussion on this subject with neighborhood stakeholders. “We look at that, and we say to ourselves that it could be a good place to renovate and adapt, to house our homeless seniors in this location,” she thinks.
Mélanie Richer, deputy clinical director at the Old Brewery Mission, sees more and more users in their early to mid-50s who have cognitive losses and who get lost in the city, which represents “a big challenge “. The evaluation process with the CLSC treatment teams is long, she explains. “And then where do we send them? she says. The man is 50 years old, he doesn’t fit in places for elderly people. »
“There is currently a gap in services for the aging population with addiction problems,” she says. She is particularly concerned about those who inject or smoke crystal meth or crack. “My crack users, they do not enter any CHSLD or any private residence because of their consumption, their behavior or their income. » “We’ll have to put them somewhere,” she continues. We need a lot more of the Manoirs-de-l’Age-d’or. »
The Old Brewery Mission does not, in theory, accept people with reduced mobility, she specifies. The aging building’s elevator sometimes breaks, making it impossible for people who need a walker to get up or down the stairs in the event of a fire.