‘Top gun’ of homelessness: Carmant accuses Montreal of delaying action
Posted August 20, 2025 4:46 pm.
Last Updated August 20, 2025 5:01 pm.
In response to Mayor Valérie Plante’s request for a “top gun” on homelessness during the upcoming cabinet reshuffle, Quebec Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant accused the City of Montreal of delaying action on the issue.
“What disappointed me yesterday was that I keep hammering home that what is needed is shelter, transitional housing and supervised housing. Then she (Valérie Plante) didn’t announce any of that,” he said Wednesday upon his arrival at the National Assembly.
On Tuesday, Plante called on “Premier François Legault to take strong action commensurate with the scale of the crisis affecting all of Quebec” and “to appoint a minister for homelessness” to manage “this humanitarian crisis.”
Currently, Carmant is in charge of the homelessness file. The mayor assured that her request “was not a rejection” of the minister.
Carmant indicated that Quebec had put “money into a modular program.”
“Montreal is slow to open its modular units, so I think we need to continue working together. That’s how we’re going to end homelessness,” he added.
Visible homelessness increased by 33 per cent between 2018 and 2022, according to a report by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) published in July.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
