Accueil Bonneau, which is struggling with a deficit for the third year in a row, will no longer offer meals on weekends from January 6, La Presse has learned. And the survival of the entire food service, which is vital to around 400 people in homelessness or vulnerable situations every day, will be “at risk” starting in February without additional funding from Quebec.
Published at 2:17 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
What there is to know
- Accueil Bonneau will stop providing meals to people in homeless or vulnerable situations on weekends from January 6th.
- Without help from Quebec, the entire restaurant industry will be at risk until February.
- The organization is facing a “very difficult” financial situation that has not been seen in almost 150 years.
The management of the Old Montreal organization, founded more than 150 years ago, fears a “catastrophe that could have serious consequences for the ecosystem of the fight against homelessness in the Greater Montreal area.”
In a December 18 letter to Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant, obtained by La Presse, Accueil Bonneau calls for “a permanent solution to [son] recurring and chronic financing problem” in order to avoid “a major service outage within a few weeks”, i.e. from February.
Last week, Minister Carmant and his colleague Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services, each granted a discretionary amount of $25,000 “to maintain food services at Accueil Bonneau during the holiday season.”
The organization will use this $50,000 in funding from the ministry to serve meals “five days a week instead of the current seven days, which will allow us to spread the amounts we award over time,” explains she said in her letter Chantal Fortin, President of the Board of Accueil Bonneau, and Fiona Crossling, General Director.
This emergency fund is roughly equivalent to a month's worth of food.
Without additional funding, “in addition to the loss of 400 people every day.”[un] As Accueil Bonneau provides an essential and vital service, it would then have to lay off several employees.”
“Inadequate” funding
Reached by phone, Ms. Crossling noted that ending weekend food distribution was a “heartbreaking” decision and a last resort.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
Fiona Crossling, General Manager of Accueil Bonneau
Food assistance “is an essential service, but it does not fit within the PSOC’s funding framework [Programme de soutien aux organismes communautaires], she complains. Accueil Bonneau offers transitional and long-term accommodation, but not 24-hour emergency accommodation. Because we do not check this box, our requests to increase the funding category at the Mission will not be accepted. »
However, Accueil Bonneau houses or supports more than 400 people in various social housing.
Although Fiona Crossling claims to have “listened carefully” to Minister Lionel Carmant, she believes the situation is untenable. Labor costs, the end of pandemic relief, inflation and increasing social needs are factors straining the shelter's finances.
The organization recorded deficits of around $400,000 in 2021 and 2022 and more than $600,000 in 2023, sums that the Accueil Bonneau Foundation – which had to liquidate its investments – can no longer cover.
Management also ensures that it has done its utmost to reduce its management budget.
Ms. Crossling estimates the public support needed at $700,000 per year for food services and $1.2 million for the overall mission, which includes, among other things, psychosocial interventions, health care, and financial and legal support.
“Meals are the most important gateway for people to get off the streets,” explains the Director General. They come to eat, then meet our staff, who direct them to housing and a full continuum of services. »
Concerned users
Sitting in a corner of the cafeteria, Jean-François Guilbault, Pierre Boyer and Peter are dismayed to learn that Accueil Bonneau's food aid services are in danger.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Pierre Boyer
There are queues here every morning on weekends. I don't know where they will get their food. I live at Maison Eugénie-Bernier so it's okay, I have food aid cards. But for non-residents it makes no sense. I don't understand.
Pierre Boyer, beneficiary of Accueil Bonneau's services
The meal service allows people experiencing homelessness not only “to feed themselves, but also to break isolation,” notes Jean-François Guilbault, who has been using Accueil Bonneau’s services for four years. A single event, he says, led him to drug use and then to the streets. “Homelessness can happen to anyone,” he says, recalling that even the proverbial “middle class” struggles to make ends meet.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Jean-François Guilbault
Frédéric Michaud, chef at Accueil Bonneau, sees more and more families coming together on Rue de la Commune in search of a warm meal.
The beneficiaries we met agree: ending meals would pose challenges not only to physical health but also to public safety in the neighborhood. “When people are hungry and have nothing to eat, they are much more likely to steal their food or get into mischief,” says Peter, who asks us not to use his last name to avoid being subjected to judgment about his Family.
“First and foremost, I fear for people’s physical and mental health,” said Fiona Crossling, general director of Accueil Bonneau. “They rely on these services for their survival. These are people like you and me, very intelligent, who need support to escape poverty. Homelessness in Montreal has increased significantly, and the main reason for this is that people have been unable to pay their rent and have lost their homes. This makes people in precarious situations even more vulnerable. »
Minister Lionel Carmant was not available to answer our questions on Friday afternoon.