Over 500 new warming spaces ease pressure amid cold snap in Montreal

As Montreal endures an extreme cold snap to start the new year, with wind chills nearing minus-30 Celsius, homelessness advocates say the City’s expanded winter response is beginning to ease pressure on frontline organizations.

“There’s a number of measures that are all happening simultaneously that, I think, are contributing to a slightly better experience of winter right now,” says Sam Watts, president and CEO of Welcome Hall Mission, which offers services to unhoused people.

Since December, Montreal has added 500 new warming shelter spaces across the city, aimed at getting people indoors during periods of dangerous cold.

“The warming areas are being well subscribed, they’re being used,” Watts explains. “I don’t believe that they’re at capacity other than in the East End.”

Despite the progress this winter, advocates warn the growing reliance on emergency services underscores a deeper problem — the lack of permanent housing is leaving the city in a cycle of crisis and response year-after-year.

“Before the pandemic, there were 900 emergency beds in Montreal or emergency spaces. There are now over 2,500 maybe approaching 3,000. That’s simply not sustainable,” Watts says.

Since the new administration led by Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada took over, City officials have announced numerous measures to tackle homelessness.

These include the creation of a crisis unit, bringing together municipal, provincial, and community partners, that meets weekly to adapt to conditions on the ground.

But advocates stress lasting change will depend on faster access to permanent housing, not just expanding emergency beds during extreme weather.