On November 7 2024, Montréal’s Transit System (STM) went on X (formerly Twitter) to announce that they would be closing Atwater Station’s B entrance until next spring. This initiative was introduced to limit the number of unhoused individuals seeking shelter in the station, in an effort to reduce drug use and harassment within the metro, a shared public space.
Shelters at Full Capacity
This came as devastating news for many, as shelters in Montréal are full, and have been for years. In response to this, the Québec government allocated an additional $9.7 million to Montréal last year, to increase the number of available beds in its shelters. Despite this funding, James Hughes, CEO of the biggest unhoused shelter organization in Montréal, stated this June that more than 5,000 people are being denied shelters due to a lack of space.
Currently, there are around 5,696 unhoused people in Greater Montréal, with about only 1,600 shelter beds available as of 2023. This means that thousands of individuals will, at any given time, have to face the cold this winter with no roof over their heads, potentially leading to their deaths. In 2023, 72 unhoused people died on Montréal’s streets. This data likely underestimates the real toll, as many deaths go unreported. Nonetheless, the mortality rate among unhoused individuals stands around 1.26 per cent, compared to approximately 0.9 per cent for the general Québec population. In other words, based on last year’s data, unhoused individuals had around 40 per cent higher mortality rates than the average housed citizen in Quebec.
Dismantling of Encampments
Since the beginning of COVID-19, where thousands of people were laid off from their work, encampments have regularly appeared around the city on provincially owned land, before being dismantled by city officers. As of November 18, the Québec government called for the dismantling of the encampment on Notre-Dame Street, citing the unsanitary and dangerous conditions it presents. Between shelters being full and public spaces such as STM locking entrances in order to keep unhoused people out, these individuals are forced to roam the city, with no shelter to escape the impending winter. This directly threatens their survival, as they are provided with no meaningful resources to escape their unfortunate situation. In response, numerous people have claimed that long-term change is necessary: dismantling tents serves as a short-term measure, and offers no significant solution for unhoused people.
The Housing Crisis
Following COVID-19, inflation has been extremely high, increasing the cost of living nationwide. Montréal in particular has experienced a surge in rent prices. Indeed, rents in the city have seen an average increase of 7.7 per cent in the last year. Meanwhile, salaries have only gone up by an average of 3.7 per cent. This discrepancy is most felt by those with the lowest incomes, many of whom have since been forced onto the streets.
Failed Motion and Government Projects
On November 18, Montréal’s city council rejected a motion calling for the proclamation of a “state of emergency on homelessness.” This motion, introduced by independent Montréal councillors Serge Sasseville and Craig Sauvé, could have pressured the Montréal and Québec governments to prioritize the crisis, by allocating more funding for the construction of additional shelters or by creating more programs to help unhoused people secure employment. The motion also called for the sheltering of all unhoused individuals, notably by allowing councillors to repurpose vacant properties into shelters, which would not be costly to do. While this would not have solved much, as vacancy rates are already only 1.5 per cent, the accumulation of small initiatives such as these can make a big difference in the long term.
The dismissal of such a motion underscores Montréal Mayor Valérie Plante’s proposed priorities. Rather than investing in essential projects to alleviate the homelessness crisis, such as creating more shelters, she allocated $5 million to finance the creation of a massive ring sculpture in the Downtown area. Similarly, on the provincial level, Québec Premier François Legault alloted $7 million to welcome the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings to play two exhibition games. Once again, while this initiative could boost Québec City’s image as an important city for hockey, the $7 million could have also been directed toward more important undertakings, such as the introduction of mechanisms to help unhoused individuals secure employment if need be. As such, while recent government initiatives have aimed to improve conditions for unhoused individuals, significant progress remains to be made.
Edited by Catriona Hayes Morris
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and they do not reflect the position of the McGill Journal of Political Science or the Political Science Students’ Association.
Featured image by Randy Laybourne through unsplash