quebec won't fund more warming centres for unhoused people in montreal: plante
mayor valérie plante said montrealers have large hearts, but there is an erosion of collective goodwill as the homelessness crisis continues.
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montreal mayor valérie plante says quebec has refused the city’s proposal to put in place warming centres for more than 50 people this winter. speaking at the regular meeting of the city’s executive committee on wednesday, plante implored the province to fund the entire cost of the warming centres that the city has offered as places of respite for unhoused people.
“we proposed sites to take people off the street immediately,” plante said. “we proposed places for more than 50 people in addition to the 118 places that were already announced by the province.”
she specified that the city has proposed “two or three warming centres, but we were told ‘no’ by the province.”
plante said she believes the province will eventually accept those additional places because it has agreed to terms with the federal government to allow $50 million to be spent on ending encampments in quebec.
the city of montreal is expecting roughly half of that money to be spent on its territory, plante said. it’s not clear whether the province intends to match the federal funding to allow for $100 million to be spent, as was expected.
plante said montrealers have large hearts, but there is an erosion of collective goodwill as the homelessness crisis continues.
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“i am going to continue to speak out, high and loud, to say that we need to find solutions,” she said. “we have to go further, and today i’m calling once again for a (provincial) plan. i’ve been saying it for two years.”
the plan has to include goals to develop housing and to improve the health-care network so it can respond to the needs of unhoused people, plante said.
she said 17,000 families in montreal are on a waiting list for social housing, which means they are on the verge of becoming unhoused.
plante added that the dismantling of an encampment of tents on notre-dame st. monday was hard for everyone to watch.
“for me, what happened on monday is a collective failure,” she said. “we can’t say it’s normal to live in a tent without water, without heating, without protection. they can be assaulted. if they use a makeshift heater, it can explode. we’ve seen this.
“it’s difficult for montrealers because we are seeing the faces of people who are homeless, and it hits so many different kinds of people right now,” plante said. “there are elderly, and lots of youths; we have seen statistics that 30 per cent of the people living in tents are young people, often just coming out of the youth protection system.”
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a request for comment sent to social services minister lionel carmant was not returned by publication time.
people working with the unhoused population told the gazette on wednesday that it is plante who has to take more of a leadership role, rather than constantly appealing to the province.
“we need to do what other cities have done and take much more modern approaches to dealing with encampments,” said old brewery mission president and ceo james hughes. “the city can absolutely take more leadership in this area than it is doing today.”
hughes said it’s time the city comes to grips with the fact that there are encampments, and offer appropriate medical services, mental health resources and access to housing. he said the city has to develop a plan to deal with encampments “at light speed” and put it in place.
“tonight there will be 5,000 people at minimum who are homeless, of which approximately 20 per cent are living outside in encampments, in hospital emergency rooms, in métros, in the parks and under the bridges,” he said. “those are dangerous spaces to live.”
hughes said emergency shelters are full every night, so there is a need for more spaces. but to really get a handle on the problem, he added, there needs to be more long-term investment in social housing.
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“no one accepts — least of all those in the encampments — that this is a long-term solution, but when there are no other options, let’s benefit from the fact that we know where they are to provide the services they need, to achieve the common objective of a better alternative.
“the trajectories out of encampments don’t exist yet, but if we had a plan and a protocol around these places like other cities do, we could actually imagine solving the issue, rather than letting people set up tents just around the corner a couple of hours later.”
welcome hall mission ceo sam watts agreed.
he rejected plante’s calls for a provincewide strategy because there have already been many plans drawn up. the key, watts said, is to dedicate the resources and the funding to those plans.
“the problem isn’t a need for a strategy; the problem is a need to actually implement some of the things that we know need to be done,” he said.
he called on the higher levels of government to put in place more programs to prevent homelessness, such as rent supplements for those on the cusp of becoming unhoused.
david chapman, executive director of the resilience montreal day centre, said it is high time for someone to take ownership of the homelessness file.
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“we need a leader; we need leadership,” he said. “we need someone who’s going to do something that might not be popular, but is essentially serving the common good.”
chapman said the city and province are “hastening the early deaths” of those in encampments when they dismantle them. he pointed out that two of those who were camping under the ville-marie expressway have died since that encampment was dismantled.
“the problem is that there is a part of the unhoused population who no one seems to really want to serve, and who no neighbourhood seems to want around and who government seems to want to pass the buck from one government to the next,” he said. “those are the ones in the encampments, and if you actually get to know some of those people, you wouldn’t want to trade your first 10 years of life with them.”
chapman added that he’s hopeful that all levels of government seem to be ready to come together and work toward finding real solutions.
hughes agreed, saying he’s optimistic there will be some good announcements and initiatives announced in 2025.
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