Montreal study shines a light on city’s homeless

WATCH: The City of Montreal has released its numbers on homelessness – and the results may surprise you. Global’s Billy Shields reports.

MONTREAL – One fifth of Montreal’s homeless populace are either Natives or immigrants and at least 400 sleep outside in the winter, according to a city survey.

The city released its study on the number of homeless people in Montreal on Tuesday after Mayor Denis Coderre requested a consensus last March as part of his action plan to fight homelessness.

“We need an outreach strategy,” he said.

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“We need to get into their world and understand these people.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: <strong>"We need to get into their world and understand these people."</strong>

On March 24, about 800 volunteers went through the streets of Montreal – about 600 km – to ask people if they had a place to stay for the night and count anyone who didn’t.

It’s much less than the estimated 30,000, a number that’s been thrown around since 1995 when the last study was conducted.

The survey also found that a lower percentage of Montreal’s homeless spent their nights outside than in Vancouver, but more than Toronto or Calgary.