Chez Doris repairs a challenge, but needed

Downtown women’s shelter Chez Doris will be undergoing significant renovations from Aug. 7 to Oct. 28 to repair crumbling infrastructure and install drains to enhance the building’s safety and structure.

“It’s for our security and (the clientele’s) security,” Marina Boulos-Winton, the shelter’s executive director, said. “The building can fall down because it’s structurally compromised.”

Boulos-Winton said the repairs, expected to cost $375,000, involve digging trenches and replacing walls affected by water leaks and mould on one side of the building. She added that French drains will also be installed since the building, constructed in 1900, lacks a drainage system.

The shelter will be open during the construction and on the weekends, with the exception of 12 days — Aug. 9, Aug. 21 to 25, Sept. 4, Sept. 5 to 8 and Sept. 25. Boulos-Winton predicts those days will be particularly noisy due to excavation and sawing, and could negatively impact women at the shelter with mental health issues.

“You won’t be able to hear yourself talk,” she said.

On average, Boulos-Winton said the shelter receives about 78 to 100 women per day and 27,000 visits per year. She estimates that 20 to 30 per cent of Chez Doris’s clientele is homeless and 50 per cent of visitors have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

Boulos-Winton said the chronically homeless will be most affected by the shelter’s closures.

“They’re very marginalized and do not use other resources,” she said, adding these women will be given gift cards for food “so they can eat during the day.”

Women who regularly seek help with financial management will also be affected by the closures. Boulos-Winton said these women have been advised in advance and are being redirected to other resources.

While Chez Doris and other shelters are particularly busy during the summer, Boulos-Winton said the construction needs to take place now before winter begins.

Women seeking shelter can also take part in an overnight camp from Aug. 19 to 22 at Domaine du Lac Bleu, about 70 kilometres north of Montreal. The camp overlaps with two of the days the shelter will be closed.

Boulos-Winton said Chez Doris’s clientele will be redirected to other shelters as well, including the La Rue des Femmes women’s shelter and the Open Door, a shelter that houses men and women.

While the shelter is closed, a variety of workshops and training sessions have been scheduled for employees and are tailored to their needs, Boulos-Winton said. Topics range from how to better help women suffering from mental health issues to how to use different software programs such as Excel.

Chez Doris will continue to accept monetary donations, but has limited space for large quantities of clothing, Boulos-Winton said. The shelter will accept perishable and non-perishable food, bras, underwear, pull-up diapers for adults, socks and towels as well as shirts that are 100 per cent wool, which will be turned into mittens.

Boulos-Winton said the shelter will continue to collect pre-selected furniture for their housing program for Indigenous women.

She said the shelter will accept larger donations in the winter once the construction is done.

It’s for our security and (the clientele’s) security. The building can fall down because it’s structurally compromised.