Warming centre shelters homeless from the cold
St. Michael’s Mission aims to aid those who shun more regimented facilities
The year before St. Michael’s Mission started opening its doors on winter nights, 13 of its clients died. Not all of them froze to death; some overdosed, others died of heart failure. But in most cases, the withering effect of sleeping outside on a cold Montreal night played a role in their demise. That stopped in 2016, when the downtown shelter launched its warming centre program. That winter and the following year, none of the homeless people who frequent the mission died on the streets, according to executive director George Greene. Starting Saturday, the mission will be open every night until April 1. As many as 100 people can come off the streets, drink warm tea, eat soup, take a shower and spend a few hours sleeping inside. “The idea is to have a place for the people who don’t fit into the traditional shelter system,” said Greene. “People don’t have to come in by a certain time and stay all night. They can bring their dogs if they want — we have cages. “This is a place where other missions would probably refuse you entry. We take them in and we keep a close eye on them.” The Old Brewery Mission, the Welcome Hall Mission and Maison du Père take in hundreds of people every night. But for safety reasons, they have to turn away those who are too intoxicated. There are also strict curfews, and once a person is inside they can’t leave until morning. “Some people can’t function in that system,” said Greene. “No matter how much you invest in housing-first initiatives, in traditional shelters, you’ll always have people who just — for whatever reason — can’t work inside a regimented system.” About 3,000 people are homeless in Montreal, according to a 2015 census conducted by the Coderre administration. Experts say that number can fluctuate from season to season, which makes it hard for shelters to know how to build for capacity. There’s also an increasing movement focused on giving the homeless access to housing rather than shelters. Last winter, the Quebec Liberal government invested $11 million to create 225 housing units for the homeless. But Greene says even the best-funded system will leave enough space for people to fall through the cracks. William Burgo is a veteran of the Yugoslav wars who has been living on the streets of Montreal for eight years. He’ll be using the warming centres in part because he prefers to strike out on his own at night. “I know how to survive in the city. If I can stand here in front of you, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I don’t use drugs,” said Burgo. “My problem is more the things I saw in the war. When I left, my brain was like mashed potatoes. “Out here, you don’t know what you’re fighting. Most people here are fighting something. They don’t know what that is. Drugs, alcohol, a ghost. Most of the people I live with, most of them, have some serious issues. “Some of them will not get through this. From time to time, when it’s cold and you’re drunk, you make a mistake, you fall asleep and you never wake up.” Burgo sat at the edge of the room, near an elderly woman who spends her nights under a bridge and just a few seats away from Richard, a 52-year-old who has been homeless since he was a teenager. They spend their nights in sleeping bags on a piece of cardboard outside or in a métro station until they’re kicked out. Last week, a homeless man’s dog froze to death in his arms after he was turned aside at two shelters. Greene says the combination of an aging homeless population and extreme winters has put increasing stress on the tiny downtown shelter. “It feels like our clientele is just growing,” he said. There are only two warming centres in the city: St. Michael’s Mission, and SOS Itinérance in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. And if there were any question about demand for their services, Greene said, the numbers speak for themselves. “We get so many people that we have to rotate them in and out of the building sometimes,” said Greene. “We’re using more electricity than we ever have, we’re paying more staff — it’s working so well that it’s become a huge strain on us.” Despite receiving grants from the municipal, provincial and federal governments, the cost of the warming centre threatened to shut down St. Michael’s last summer. Some last-minute donations and severe cost-cutting managed to keep the place alive. But with a new winter at hand, Greene worries about the mission’s survival. “It’s a struggle every day,” he said. “All we can do is keep doing our jobs.”