Calls to relocate future homeless shelter in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville

Residents of Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville are renewing calls for the city to take their concerns seriously and relocate a new homeless shelter scheduled to open in a residential neighbourhood next month. 

“They want to impose it on us and it’s a totally non-democratic process and it’s not acceptable,” said Rachel Rakhi from the Mobilization Committee of Bordeaux-Cartierville, a group of citizens opposed to the new homeless shelter.

“We are telling not our kids’ backyard. We cannot let it happen.”

“We all understand that, you know, we need to have those kinds of services provided. But really the location itself is not suitable given the fact that we have so many schools,” said Marc-Olivier Charbonneau, an Ahuntsic-Cartierville resident, who lives not far from the future homeless shelter.

The shelter would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and would serve up to 50 people experiencing homelessness.

However, its close proximity to a daycare, a community health centre and a long-term care home is why residents like Rachel Rakhi from the Mobilization Committee of Bordeaux-Cartierville want to see it moved elsewhere, citing safety concerns for children and seniors in the area. 

“We want to do it as a preventive measure because in other places it failed,” said Rakhi.

“It’s a lot of concerns for a neighbourhood that is quiet and mostly filled with kids. We have the three schools and the Bois-de-Boulogne is a highway for the schools,” said Josée Plamondon, another resident living in the area.      

Welcome Hall Mission CEO Sam Watts also questions the planning of the new homeless shelter saying that the quick decision to use this location was not well thought through. 

“All the information that I have seen to this point suggests that this was a very last-minute move by the city in order to replace the ending of the facility in Verdun,” said Watts, adding, “the answer isn’t always to just grab the first available building. The answer is to think through very carefully how to best serve the people in need. And when we do that, then we make decisions that are intelligent and that are well-thought through.”

In a written statement to CityNews, the city of Montreal says they are still in discussion with all stakeholders and citizens to continue the analysis of the feasibility and acceptability of the project. They add that if it does go ahead there is a plan to ensure peace, security and cleanliness in the neighbourhood.

On Tuesday, a team of four – composed of the city of Montreal, the Société de Développement Social and the Montreal Police – were speaking to citizens in the area about the homeless shelter.

“People are scared at the same time angry because we are not being listened, they are not listening to us,” said Rakhi.