Crowded shelters: ‘Heartbreaking’ to see homeless people looking for somewhere to sleep

Christmas Eve is shaping up to be a difficult time for homeless people who are struggling to find shelter with space to accommodate them.

In the Greater Montreal area, temperatures are expected to drop to -20 degrees Celsius on the nights of December 24 and 25. Many homeless people will spend the day trying to find shelter that will accept them. 

The Canadian Press asked several people who work in shelters how the last few days have been, which have been very cold across Quebec. 

The situation is worrying, as shelters are turning away several people every day due to lack of capacity. The workers are worried sick about those looking for a place to spend Christmas Eve night. 

Louise Waridel, deputy general director of “La rue des femmes”, reports that traffic is very high at the moment. Every day, her organization turns away between 20 and 25 women, sometimes exceeding 30 refusals. 

“It’s a lot,” comments Waridel. “It’s certain that we are concerned all year round to see so many refusals, so many people staying outside, but in times of extreme cold it’s even more worrying because we know that someone staying outside can be fatal.”

“It’s always a little more heartbreaking when it’s full and Christmas is coming up,” she continues. Waridel says women often feel anxious about not finding a place to spend the holidays.

She emphasizes that the people who are refused are known to the center. “The women who frequent our resources are women we see again from one day to the next, sometimes from one week to the next. They become a bit like family members, so knowing they are on the street is indeed worrying,” she confides. 

“La rue des femmes” offers meal services, day therapy activities and transitional housing. Maison Jacqueline also has 24 emergency beds and Maison Olga has nine emergency beds. Currently, all emergency beds are full on a daily basis. 

 The situation is similar at CAP St-Barnabé, which has three inclusive emergency shelters that can accommodate 350 people per day in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in Montreal. 

According to estimates by Carlens Solol, who works at reception, every day, CAP St-Barnabé has to refuse an emergency bed to around ten people. 

Lunches and dinners are also served at the centres, and some neighbourhood residents in need come to benefit, he said. 

Supporting people who have been refused 

Steven Fortin, coordinator at “L’Amour en Action”, located in Montreal North, indicates that the teams do everything in their power to find an emergency bed in another shelter when they are full. 

“L’Amour en action” has 51 beds and they are all occupied at the moment. “We are full, we are overflowing, we have a waiting list of at least three pages,” says Mr. Fortin, which corresponds to nearly forty people waiting for a bed. 

The Montreal North organization also has a 30-chair warming shelter that opened in November. With the cold temperatures of the last few days, Fortin said there is often a line of people outside, waiting under a gazebo, waiting for 6 p.m. to arrive so they can enter the warming shelter. 

 Solol confirms that homeless people are not thrown out when a shelter is full. “When people come and ask for a place, when we see that we are full, the workers refer them to other centers,” he explains. 

He also said he was calling on ÉMMIS (Équipe mobile de médiation et d’intervention sociale) to have workers help move a person from one shelter to another. 

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews