new resilience montreal day shelter will offer 'a double dose of dignity'
construction is set to begin in the coming months for the facility, which will focus on wellness for those who need it most.
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it’s probably unusual to have a bath reserved for long soaks at a shelter for the unhoused. it’s even more unusual to have a 50-foot living wall of green plants and an indoor fireplace and sitting area.
but resilience montreal doesn’t want to be an ordinary day shelter.
“my experience with shelters is that, ‘all you need is a church basement and a granola bar and you’re good.’ this is not that,” said nakuset, co-founder of resilience.
with construction set to begin in the coming months, the new permanent home for resilience montreal — a day shelter that serves the unhoused, mostly indigenous population around cabot square — will do things differently. now an abandoned antique store with second- and third-floor living quarters, the facility is due to undergo a major transformation to create a space where every inch has been planned to serve the needs of a vulnerable clientele.
“it’s a wellness centre; it’s a place where as soon as you walk in, you feel a calmness and you feel empowered,” nakuset said.
she hopes the centre will serve as a model, its blueprint to be copied by other projects in the years to come.
“we’re creating a resource that is very much saying, ‘welcome home,’ ” said david chapman, executive director of the shelter, which is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. “when we’re done (building) here, this might be the most beautiful homeless resource in the country.”
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resilience’s current home is a quickly renovated defunct mcdonald’s turned high-end sushi restaurant. it has always been too small to meet the needs of the community it serves: unhoused montrealers, the vast majority from the indigenous community that hangs around cabot square. filling a vacuum left when the open door shelter in the area closed, resilience began renting the space in 2019, then needs shot up dramatically when the pandemic hit a few months later.
resilience purchased its future home a year ago. much of the work since then has been dedicated to planning out the space in consultation with the unhoused population, and to meeting with neighbours to begin outreach for cohabitation.
on a recent tour of the facility, chapman showed off the massive second-storey terrasse, which will be partially covered and allow people to consume, or just hang out with outreach workers in a safe space away from the eyes of neighbours.
a sketch of the terrasse at the future resilience montreal day shelter.
claire davenport architecte inc.
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pivot coopÉrative d'architecture
chapman said the goal of the project is to put together a resource that will restore dignity to the population it serves, getting away from the tradition of using cheap but durable building materials.
“when you’re dealing with residential school survivors and much more complicated scenarios, you realize that philosophy doesn’t work. in fact, it’s counterproductive,” chapman said. “what you need to do is give them a double dose of dignity: wood, stone, fire, everywhere.
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“for people who have seen a lot of trauma in their early years, their first response is often fear and aggression,” he said. “but what we’re trying to do is the hard work of building relationships, and if you treat people with dignity and respect, they move towards healthy belonging in a community.”
in mock-up sketches of the design for the new resilience, the look is far more that of a luxurious day spa than that of a resource for those living on the margins. but the shelter will have services tailored to its clientele, and is planned to minimize conflicts with neighbours. it envisions a lineup for food that weaves through the building, up its stairs and back down to the main floor, so people don’t have to queue on the street. resilience currently serves 300 meals, three times per day, to roughly 200 to 300 people.
it will also have two soundproof rooms where people who are raging can let off steam, in a safe and supervised fashion. on the main floor, the facility will also have an interview room, with audio and video recording equipment set up to police specifications.
chapman explained that while women living on the streets are particularly vulnerable to assaults and abuse, few ever file complaints, because of the psychological and physical barriers. the on-site interview room would allow women to meet police officers in a space where they feel more comfortable.
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also on the main floor will be at least 10 computer terminals set up for people to keep in touch with relatives. food will be served there as well. in the room at the back, behind massive wooden doors, there will be day beds set up. the second floor will have a huge kitchen, and a healing room — designed to look like a mohawk longhouse — where substance abuse treatment sessions will be held, doctors will visit and social workers can help people find housing. the second floor will also have a bath in a cedar-walled room, with the cedar repurposed from the former inhabitants’ coat closet.
“why would we do that? because this is what the homeless asked for,” chapman said. “we brought the homeless community through and got their suggestions. one guy named albert kept on insisting that we put in a bath. he wants to be able to sit in a bath for a couple of hours and be left alone, so we put it in the design.”
the third floor, which was where the bedrooms were located, will be converted to offices and a staff lounge. a basement will be dug out, which will be used as storage for food and for clothing that’s given out. it will also have a laundry room, a refrigerated garbage room and a walk-in freezer.
the building will minimize its impact on the environment by incorporating a green roof that will capture snow and rainwater and filter it to be used within the building.
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chapman said he has met dozens of neighbours over the last few months, in hopes of starting out on a positive note.
“we are concerned about cohabitation and want to make every effort we can to have a positive relationship with the neighbours,” he said. “but on the same token, we’re needed. we don’t apologize for being here.”
as resilience becomes a fixture in its new neighbourhood, chapman said its community will be working actively to improve the surroundings, picking up garbage, shovelling snow and helping to beautify the area.
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