“We are creating new itinerants”

The number of middle-class households that have found themselves on the streets since 1^er July, for lack of adequate housing, is on the rise. These new homeless people, however, come up against closed doors and full beds.

Lila Dussault
The Press

The housing crisis continues to take its toll: new faces are appearing in homelessness resources in Quebec this summer. Meanwhile, dozens of households still homeless since 1^er July are struggling to find a roof over their heads.

“Just at the Hôtel-Dieu, there has been a more than 50% increase in people knocking on our door for help since the 1^er July. Obviously, it’s major,” says Julie Grenier, advisor to the Mission Bon Accueil. Hôtel-Dieu is an emergency shelter for homeless people open 24 hours a day in Montreal.

The metropolis is not the only city in Quebec where we are seeing an increase in homelessness. In Gatineau, three accommodation services (Mon Calme, Transit and Gîte Ami) welcomed 68 new people between 1^er May and July 31. Of this number, 27 people had lost their housing in the three months preceding their arrival.

“We have people who belong to the middle class, who had no problem before,” says Éric Boulay, general manager of Lauberivière, in Quebec.

Between 2017 and 2021, in Quebec City, the number of nights offered by Lauberivière to homeless people increased from 24,808 to 41,300, an increase of nearly 40% occupancy.

At Partage Saint-François, a Sherbrooke organization, we have to refuse requests every night for lack of places. If a drastic increase in refusals has not been observed by the director general, Sébastien Laberge, “from year to year, there is an increase in requests”, he assures.

Getting harder and harder to get off the street

Organizations are unanimous: one of the effects of the housing crisis is that helping people get off the streets is increasingly difficult.

In the Outaouais, the rise in rent prices, the lack of housing and social housing are complicating everything. “Some new users work, but they can no longer find accommodation, denounces François Lstairs, of Gîte Ami. And since there is a crying lack of social housing in Gatineau, the length of stay increases in our sites. In short, the continuum of services we offer is like a funnel that is in danger of clogging. »

A vision shared by Sébastien Laberge, in Sherbrooke. “The housing crisis affects people experiencing homelessness, but not for entry. For the exit, ”he says.

Not to mention that violence and mental health problems have also increased tenfold, says Mr. Laberge.

According to him, the health network is no longer able to offer the necessary services to homeless people. As a result, “we are having open-air asylums in our streets”, he laments.

In Quebec, Lauberivière takes many more people out of homelessness than 20 years ago, explains Mr. Boulay. “But the needs are so great that it is not enough. »

Dozens of households still looking for a home

Meanwhile, dozens of households accompanied by the emergency services of Quebec municipalities since 1^er July are struggling to relocate. Thursday, they were still 121 in Montreal and 73 in Drummondville, according to Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU). 1^er last August, 500 households were still on the street across the province, according to a compilation by FRAPRU.

It is clear that the support offered by the Government of Quebec since May to accompany families on the street is not producing the expected results. Only a hundred rent subsidies out of the 1,600 offered by the government had been awarded as of Thursday, according to Ms.^me The flame. Why ? For lack of housing or landlords ready to rent to tenants who benefit from it.

“The social safety net, in housing, is holed, asserts M^me The flame. For years, we did not invest in social housing. There, that leaves people in completely unacceptable situations for a rich society like ours. How long are we going to tolerate this? »