An encampment for the homeless population next to a tennis court on Bourassa Street in Longueuil, Que., is one example of how pervasive homelessness has become on the South Shore and elsewhere.
“I think that the only thing that we need is action,” stated Giro Charest, who’s been living there for eight months and worries about finding an affordable home. “The talking has been going on forever and there’s no action going on.”
The City of Longueuil is about to do something officials believe will help. They are moving the Halte du coin emergency shelter for the unhoused at the Notre-Dame-des-Grace church building on the same street to a municipal building about a kilometre away at the Jeanne-Dufresnoy Centre on Curé Poirier Boulevard.
It’s to make way for a social housing complex for those at risk of homelessness, as well as for those about to leave a situation of homelessness.
“The major answer to homelessness is to build social housing to give people a safe place to live,” Mayor Catherine Fournier told reporters at a press conference Monday.
It will have 84 social housing units and will replace the church building as well as the adjacent parking lot. Construction is supposed to start in August. Fournier said the project is crucial because the problems of affordable housing resulting in homelessness are rising.
“Yes, we have a major increase here in Longueuil, but it’s the same all around Quebec,” Fournier said. “We’re so close to Montreal so we already had a certain homelessness population, but way less.”
People now using the Halte du coin shelter will start moving to the new location within weeks. Authorities say it’ll be a temporary location — for at least two years.
“To be honest, we find it a bit short,” Halte du coin director said, “but it’ll give us the time to work together to maybe find another place.”
Questions remain about the fate of the encampment next to the Halte du coin shelter, though, where city officials say police have stepped up patrols to stem crime. Fournier expressed hope that the campers move to the new shelter location as well, but residents want to stay where they are since they’ve become a community.
Charest blames the trouble on a small number of campers.
“I think they have to clean up by throwing out the people that are making trouble,” he told Global News, “because people are making trouble when most people aren’t.”
The city said there are no immediate plans to evict them.