Modular homes being built on Montreal’s Hippodrome site for homeless
Posted July 2, 2025 2:48 pm.
Last Updated July 2, 2025 5:12 pm.
Modular homes on Montreal’s Hippodrome site are being built to offer a place to stay for people experiencing homelessness in the city.
In total, there will be 28 rooms, two of them for couples, allowing up to 30 people to stay at the site.
“We will do everything for the people to be really at ease on the site,” said Daniel Girard, the fire chief for the prevention department of the Montreal fire department (SIM), who is helping to oversee the development of the project. Girard gave CityNews a tour of the construction site Wednesday morning.
The units on the site have been designed as transitional housing, a step up from emergency shelters. They are meant to be lived in for a certain period, typically six months to two years, until a permanent home has been found.
The rooms of the modular homes are being constructed in two separate blocks that are connected by corridors that lead to the main entrance, a room for a person with reduced mobility as well as a common area that includes a living room, a kitchen and a dining room.
This site will be focused on serving people who are stabilized who are looking to find a permanent home.
The city of Montreal has not finalized the organization that will oversee the modular homes to provide services to the people on the site, but they are planning to open it by the end of September.
“The city is working a lot for that. The site has been going really fast. We’ve been going on a fast track for this project since the beginning. So we’re really happy that it’s going to come. At the end of summer, we’ll be OK to greet people probably,” said Girard.
