Valérie Plante does not intend to use the twenty tiny houses for the homeless offered by Mike Ward, in the wake of the death of a homeless woman in the last few days. Rather, it wants to tackle the “labour shortage” qualified in social intervention.
Posted at 12:52 p.m.
“It’s not to be against a project like what Mr. Ward is proposing, on the contrary. But it is to do it in a coherent way so that these people are taken care of and that we help them, that we are there for them, ”she argued at a press conference on Monday.
Mike Ward recalled this weekend having proposed to the City to build 25 shelters for the homeless. These insulated and heated wooden cabins were offered in Montreal last year.
“The offer still stands. We can stay comfortably until -30. Designed for people most at risk, those who refuse to sleep in shelters, ”wrote the comedian, specifying that the installation could be done in a week. “A simple yes from you and no one else will freeze to death this winter,” he added, saying he wanted to “help people who are slipping between the cracks of the system.”
Valérie Plante replies that in Montreal, “the problem is not so much space”, but above all the lack of “qualified personnel, in other words people who can accompany people experiencing homelessness” towards resources. “That’s why we work with organizations. That’s relevance,” she said.
Accompany first
The reality of homeless people “is complex, and there are all kinds of paths”, then affirmed the mayor, defending herself from not being proactive. “There may be people on the street, because they have trauma from domestic violence, people who have substance abuse problems, or mental health problems. You have to be there, you have to help them, you have to accompany them. »
“Neither the City nor the community organizations, we like to say no when we are offered help. Nobody likes to say no,” Ms.me Plant.
In his eyes, this case illustrates that “a lot of people want to help, because there is a feeling of powerlessness in the face of homelessness”. ” I understand. People are right to be angry that there are people on the street. I too am angry, I too find this unacceptable, but we must go further and say to ourselves as a society: is it normal that for 5-10-20 years, we have been in a system where in winter, we takes care of homeless people, we set up shelters, and then it falls? “asked the chosen one.
“What is needed are lasting solutions. Yes, I want a roof for all homeless people, yes that’s what I want, but for that, we need social housing and community resources for these people who, not always, but often, are very vulnerable,” she concluded.