Montreal takes to the streets for a homelessness census

Volunteers around Quebec took to the streets to do a homelessness census on Tuesday evening.

In Montreal, more than 1,000 people dedicated their time to count and survey people living in shelters, transitional housing or outside.

The goal is to help the province estimate how many people are experiencing homelessness and keep track of which demographics are mainly affected to better tailor services.

The last count was done on April 23, 2024 and found there were over 9,300 homeless people in the province with 42 per cent being in Montreal.

James Hughes, the head of the Old Brewery Mission, expects the numbers to have increased yet again. Between 2022 and 2024, homelessness went up by 15 per cent.

Hugues expects there to be a few thousand homeless people counted in Montreal Tuesday.

“We are full to overflowing all the time across our network,” he said. “We’re going to do the count tonight and it’s going to confirm what everyone knows. ”

Mirka Levasseur is an intervention worker at the Old Brewery Mission and volunteered for the census. When CTV News caught up with her, she had surveyed over 30 people.

“They are hungry and cold and want to talk,” she said. “It’s important because we need the services and it helps us see the numbers and see who is in the street: immigrants, students, ex-workers.”

She has been doing this work for two years and said the crisis keeps getting worse. Students are coming to her office saying they can’t pay rent or afford food, and don’t know what to do to get back on track.

Levasseur said workers can often find solutions for people by simply asking the right questions.

More services, housing needed

The Old Brewery Mission runs 17 facilities around Montreal offering shelters and other services. Though Hughes said services are expanding and more housing projects have been added, it’s still not enough.

He said the only way out of the homelessness crisis the city is seeing is massive investment in housing and social services.

“It’s a hard thing to swallow,” said Hughes, adding that with the economy taking a hit and turmoil south of the border the government may have other priorities.

“But ... we need to invest like crazy to fix it,” he stressed.

Luc Rabouin, head of the city’s executive committee, said it’s “a good sign” to see how many Montrealers volunteered to do the census.

“People are concerned about the situation ... we have a social and humanitarian crisis here in Montreal, so we have to do more,” he said.

He said that though housing is a shared responsibility that the city has been working hard to improve, mental health and addiction services are in the province’s hands.

Quebec Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant said information from the ground is always useful.

“Even though we housed more than 3,000 people in 2023-2024, the numbers tonight will probably be increasing so we need more housing and more accompaniment,” he told journalists.

Lack of political will

Housing group Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) says there’s a lack of political will to tackle homelessness at the provincial and federal levels of government.

According to spokesperson Catherine Lussier, the best way to prevent a further increase in homelessness is having more social housing available so people can have “a decent house and not have to use all their money just to have a place to stay.”

Lussier pointed out that Quebec didn’t invest in social housing in its last budget. Few federal parties have addressed homelessness and the housing crisis on the campaign trail, with the focus being on homeowners instead.

“We don’t even know where they’re standing. Are they willing to finance more social housing, which we need?” she said. “The governments are definitely not doing enough.”

Meanwhile, she said, more and more people are feeling insecure in their housing situation. Many tenants are either getting rent increases they can barely afford or are having a hard time finding a place to live come moving day, she added.

“It’s only the visible ones that we’re seeing,” she said.

With files from CTV News Montreal’s Angela Mackenzie