Pandemic forces homeless to find shelter in tents, converted hotels

COVID-19 disrupts access to services, prompts changes

Alexandre was sorting cans one recent morning outside a tent pitched next to a busy Montreal road by the Port of Montreal.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he had been sleeping at a homeless shelter, but when health measures forced the shelter to cut its capacity, he was forced onto the street. For the past three months, Alexandre, who refused to give his last name, has called this informal encampment east of downtown Montreal home. In late November, his was one of more than 40 tents on the thin stretch of grass.

“So far it hasn't been too cold,” he told a reporter. He likes that people are free to come and go, unlike the shelter, which he says was “like a prison.” He figures he'll tough it out through the winter.

While tent cities like this are new to Montreal, shelter workers and experts say it's not necessarily a sign that significantly more people in Montreal are homeless.

But they all agree that the pandemic has made homelessness more visible and disrupted the way people access both formal and informal services.

“There have been people who have lost their homes and the places where they were staying as a function of COVID,” said Samuel Watts, the CEO of Welcome Hall Mission, which provides a variety of services to Montrealers in precarious situations. “How many? That's not clear.”

In a statement on Sunday, the acting director of the city's fire safety service, Richard Liebmann, said he ordered the encampment be dismantled after a fire broke out at the site a day earlier.

Mayor Valérie Plante said the fire “is not only worrying, but it could have been tragic and led to deaths.”

“As a municipal administration, we have a responsibility to guarantee the safety of our fellow citizens. We will therefore do what is necessary to accommodate the campers in a safe place right now,” she said in the statement.

Serge Lareault, Montreal's commissioner for people experiencing homelessness, said the pandemic has made the homeless more visible. Before, he said, people experiencing homelessness would spend time in restaurants or day centres, but because of COVID-19 restrictions, they have been pushed outside. In Montreal, restaurants, coffee shops and libraries have been closed since Oct. 1.

“We do have the impression that there is an increase in homelessness, or at least an increased demand for emergency shelter services,” Lareault said. However, there's no shortage of shelter space, he said.

The City of Montreal has doubled the number of beds available in the city's shelter system — including a 380-bed shelter in a converted four-star hotel downtown that's now being operated by the Welcome Hall Mission.

Sylvain Di Lallo said last week he's been staying at the hotel for several days with his girlfriend. Before that he spent nearly three months at the tent city.

He said he decided to go to the hotel shelter when the weather turned colder.

Di Lallo, 51, said he works as a window washer on highrise buildings, but there hasn't been much work since the pandemic began.

Staying at Hotel Place Dupuis “is not too bad,” he said. There's a shower in the room and while there's no TV, there is Wi-fi, and he can stay with his girlfriend — something that isn't possible in a traditional shelter.

“The only thing that's a little bit annoying is the waiting,” he said. He has to show up around an hour before the doors open to ensure he and his girlfriend can get a room together.