Youth in Montreal’s Chinatown concerned about closure of shelter inside Guy-Favreau

A group of some 30 Montrealers called Chinatown Youth is speaking out after the closure of the homeless shelter inside the Complexe Guy-Favreau in Chinatown. They are asking that more resources be directed toward housing, mental health and drug related overdoses – now that they say many in the homeless community there have to find another shelter downtown.

“We didn’t agree about the closing of the shelter. And, now we are asking for more shelters downtown, more resources downtown, and not allocated in Verdun, which is like 30, 40 minutes from here,” said Estelle Mi, the co-coordinator with Chinatown Youth.

A new temporary shelter opened in Verdun on Friday – about 10 kilometres from the former Chinatown shelter – although shuttle buses paid by the city of Montreal are in service to transport those in need to available resources – there are questions about how many will actually use this service and how many will remain in the downtown Chinatown area.

“They think also that the resources that they have is located in downtown. It’s not in Verdun. It’s not at the outskirts of downtown Montreal,” Mi added.

These calls for action from Chinatown Youth come after the homeless shelter in Chinatown was closed following multiple complaints from local businesses and residents, particularly the elderly, who said that they had been the target of violence and criminal acts related to drug consumption and homelessness.

“For the people living in Chinatown, it’s good for them to leave here because they cause a lot of problems,” said Patrick Lee, a Montrealer.

“I don’t think they are going to leave. They got the right to stay. You see the camping there? Maybe the camping is going to be bigger, who knows?” added another person CityNews spoke to in the neighborhood.

“Whose safety are we talking about? Are we talking about the safety of some residents? Or are we talking about the safety of all Chinatown community? We believe that the unhoused people are also part of the Chinatown community,” Mi added.

Chinatown Youth says that the insecurity concerns of the elderly residents of Chinatown must be treated with seriousness, but they believe that the closure of the homeless shelter only makes the housing, mental health and drug-related issues faced by this population worse. 

In a statement, the city of Montreal said that some 20 people from the Complexe Guy-Favreau have been relocated and that the others have received a list of housing resources throughout Montreal.

“People will be able to choose to go to the new Verdun service if they wish. We have also set up mixed teams that circulate on the streets and in the metro to help people in need,” the statement reads.