Montreal shelter for asylum seekers calls on Quebec for funding after Ottawa’s $100 million housing top-up

After the federal government pledged $362-million for a housing assistance program for asylum seekers – $100 million of which is for Quebec, Kicha Estimé the owner of La Traverse, a shelter for new arrivals in Montreal North, says more funding is needed and Quebec isn’t giving enough to smaller organizations like hers.

“The organization needs a lot of money to help people because me I don’t have no money and it’s really difficult,” she said.

She has been running the transitional home for the last three years, almost entirely out of pocket and with the help of donations.

Residents of La Traverse have to pay at least $400 a month and it houses 27 people.

“When they need something I can’t give it to them because I don’t have funds,” she said. “If I have funds, I could have a better place for them so they don’t have to pay.”

She says she wants to be able to get a bigger place and double their capacity.

“Here it’s small,” she said. “The demand is high and they can’t find a house so it’s really difficult.”

Yannick Ndayimirije is one of those people. CityNews first brought you his story last September, as he was in training to become a security guard – he’s been staying at the shelter since October 2022 after fleeing Burundi, near Rwanda – and is now looking for a job to be able to find housing.

“When they come here, it’s because they can’t find a place,” he said. “It’s very expensive, a lot of rent, it costs $1,000 and we get $800 for social welfare.”

Woodmy Estimé, Kicha’s brother, works at the shelter and sees the struggles first-hand.

“You have housing problems, you have economy that’s going up,” he said. “So the government has to send money to those places so they could help those people and give them the right way so they don’t go like somewhere else or they don’t put their life in jeopardy.”

This week, Kicha says she turned away more than 17 people and many ended up in the street.

“Now I’m really full. I can’t accept one more person, I don’t have space.”

The issue of housing asylum seekers is what brought Premier Legault to send an official letter to Prime Minister Trudeau on Jan. 18, saying Quebec is almost at its breaking point – that the influx of asylum seekers needed to be reduced and the province wanted to be reimbursed $470 million for costs incurred.

Quebec’s Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette told CityNews in a statement that the federal government’s $100 million top-up is “insufficient,” but says it’s a “step in the right direction,” after the province put pressure on Ottawa in the last weeks.

Quebec also pushed for the closure of the irregular border crossing, Roxham Road, and it was permanently shut down last March.

“They’re still coming, even if you tell them not to come they’re still going to come,” Kicha said. “And they need more support.”

Kicha says $65,000 is pending in funding from a Montreal foundation, but she says she needs more in order to expand.

“We have to apply a couple of places to ask because we need money,” she said. “If we have the money, we could start something for the center.”