The news of 2023 was dominated by many topics related to homelessness. Here is a summary.
• Also read: 'I was empty inside': A Quebecer shares how he escaped homelessness
• Also read: Heated tents at a makeshift camp in Gatineau
According to a major report released by the Ministry of Health, more than 10,000 people in Quebec are currently experiencing this sad reality.
Homelessness has risen 44% in five years and no region is immune.
Gatineau Mayor France Bélisle also made a heartfelt outcry in September about the lack of resources for the homeless.
In particular, she mentioned that a homeless woman gave birth alone in the forest. Pregnant and homeless in the area of her city.
There are numerous illegal campsites on the Montreal side.
Very close to the Sucre Lantic company on Rue Notre-Dame, TVA Nouvelles observed that a small community of homeless people had settled behind an abandoned building.
These places often look like landfills and the city will have dismantled more than 450 of them by 2023.
In mid-December, about 10 homeless people living under an overpass on Sainte-Catherine Street near Bercy Street, near a Canadian-Pacific railway line, had to pack up their belongings.
Residents living near the Palais des Congrès witnessed a fire in the spring that destroyed a homeless woman's tent and personal belongings.
The presence of homeless people in the former YMCA of the Guy Favreau Complex also attracted attention.
However, the neighbors of the emergency shelter were able to breathe a sigh of relief when it was announced that the homeless would be relocated to Verdun to a former senior citizens' home on Gordon Street, which can accommodate around fifty people.
In November, the manager of an abandoned building on Rue de Lorimier discovered that three homeless people had overdosed.
TVA Nouvelles also visited.
The importance of stakeholders
In this context, field staff play a crucial role.
The new EMIC team, recently created in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, addresses problems of coexistence between residents and homeless people.
On the subway side, the STM special police officers have their hands full with consumption, violence and mental health.
According to a company report, the total annual cost of a homeless person is more than $72,500.
It remains to be seen how this portrait will develop in 2024.
You can find Yves Poirier's entire report in the video above