‘Nobody wants to be in the streets’: 50-studio Hochelaga transitional housing project inaugurated
Posted March 31, 2025 1:35 pm.
Last Updated March 31, 2025 3:50 pm.
A new transitional housing project in Montreal’s Hochelaga for those looking to secure permanent housing was inaugurated Monday.
The three-storey building will have 50 studio apartments, with residents expected to stay roughly two to three months while they search for a permanent home – with the help of housing specialists.
Construction is nearly finished on the former music studio and rehearsal space in the heart of Hochelaga.
Julia Blanco, who is dealing with homelessness, says she is looking forward to moving in when it opens in about three weeks.
“This is peace of mind and it is very good because you know you are not forced to just go,” said Blanco.
Blanco, a Spanish teacher at Concordia University for 26 years, was hit by a series of financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been facing homelessness ever since – at first staying with friends, then hostels, and eventually emergency shelters like Ricochet and Chez Doris.
“Every day you have to ask for your bed and you don’t know until five o’clock in the afternoon,” Blanco described, adding homelessness can happen to anyone.
“We were there freezing waiting at two o’clock to be able to make sure that we had a bed at four o’clock when they opened it. They would give us warmers to be waiting out in the island and when they are by the river.
“I always say, I have people that tells me, ‘oh some people want to stay in the streets.’ And nobody wants to be in the streets.”
The building was empty when Welcome Hall Mission, an organization assisting people experiencing homelessness, bought it in July 2024.
The 50 studios — which each have a bed, desk and chair — don’t have doors and are open onto the hallway. Bathrooms are shared. There is no consumption of drugs on the property.
Housing specialists will help clients find permanent housing, with Welcome Hall Mission CEO Sam Watts saying the focus is on prevention.
“We’ve developed partnerships with private landlords, more than 180 of them in the city. They have units between six and 30 units of buildings and so on. And we work with those private landlords to try and marry up the needs of the individuals with the availability of apartments. Not always easy, not always quick, but it’s working because we’ve been able to house more than 475 people in the last two-and-a-half years using that kind of a system.”
Watts believes once people are permanently housed, continued support is necessary in order to ensure success.
Robert, who had been facing homelessness for a year, recently found permanent housing in his neighbourhood of Rosemont with the help of Welcome Hall Mission.
“It’s a big pressure off my shoulders,” he said. “I can set down roots in my neighbourhood, look for work and rebuild my life.”
Quebec Minister of Social Services Lionel Carmant plans to replicate this type of project throughout the province.
“Moving forward we’ll be seeing more and more of these types of housing,” Carmant said. “I think the number is… more than 20,000 doors coming in the next few years.”
