Groups pool efforts to help homeless

During extreme cold, special measures have been put in place to help homeless people in Montreal.

The Centre intégré universitaire de santé ET de services sociaux (CIUSSS) of Centre-Sud-de-l’Îlede-Montréal, the city of Montreal and community organizations are coordinating their services.

The organizations want to ensure that emergency accommodation is sufficient to meet demand as it increases in winter.

Complementary services have been added for people who normally do not use these resources.

The city is investing close to $800,000 in these measures, which will allow for the hiring of about 20 people in six shelters, the opening of a heated rest stop and a shuttle service.

Sonia Bélanger, the CIUSSS president and CEO, believes that every effort must be made to provide the most vulnerable people a place to stay in cold weather. This winter, Montreal has a total of 925 emergency shelter spaces.

For men, there are 740 emergency shelter spaces available thanks to the collaboration of La Maison du Père, Welcome Hall Mission, Old Brewery Mission, Quebec Aboriginal Projects and CAP St-Barnabé.

There will be about 110 emergency shelter spaces for women at the Patricia Mackenzie Pavilion, La Rue des femmes, le Chaînon, Quebec Aboriginal Projects, Passages, CAP St-Barnabé, L’Abri d’espoir of the Salvation Army and Maison Marguerite.

For youth, there are 65 shelter spaces at the Montreal Youth Refuge, Dans la rue’s Bunker and En Marge 12-17. The Centre de répit ET de dégrisement can accommodate 12 homeless men and women who have been excluded from shelters or are in crisis.