Focus turns to finding housing for campers living under Montreal expressway

People living in tents underneath the Ville-Marie Expressway were jubilant Tuesday after a judge ruled that they can remain on the site  for another 10 days.

“It’s the minimum we could’ve expected for these people who are among the most impoverished people in Quebec,” Donald Tremblay of the Mobile Legal Clinic (MLC) told Global News after breaking the news to the campers.

But Tremblay and others fighting on behalf of the unhoused people are disappointed that a solution still hasn’t been found since last fall, when Transports Québec first issued an eviction notice in order to carry out what it says is urgent repair work on the overpass.

“They deserve to be housed, they deserved to be helped by our government,” Tremblay insisted.  “This is a governmental responsibility.”

So after a second eviction notice in March, the MLC  sought an injunction to block the move until the unhoused individuals find places to live.

A judge had been pushing the sides to find a solution before Wednesday, the eviction date, but that failed.

Hence Tuesday’s ruling.

Neither side wants to discuss the details of negotiations but they’ll try again over the next 10 days.

“We’re formally calling on the government to sit down and negotiate a solution to this problem,” said Tremblay.

Jennifer Maccarone, Quebec Liberal Party MNA for the Westmount-Saint-Louis riding which includes the site in question, is also blasting the provincial government.

According to Maccarone, “there’s nothing that’s stopping them from taking action within the 10 days.”

At the hearings in March the judge pointed to what she thought were inadequate efforts made by the Centre-west health board in whose jurisdiction the camp is located.

Others who work with the homeless population agree that health authorities do have a role to play in this case.

“This is going to cost some money so we were hoping very much that the relevant health organizations find the necessary funds to make sure that we can arrive at successes,” pointed out James Hughes, president and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission which provides services to the unhoused.

Quebec minister of social services Lionel Carmant refused to comment Wednesday, saying that the matter is before the courts, but in a statement the Centre-West health board says it does not offer housing.

“CIUSSS West-Central Montreal works closely with the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, whose regional role is to ensure the development of a wide range of housing solutions for the homeless population,” reads the statement in part.

In a separate statement received Thursday, the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (CCSMTL) clarified its role in helping unhoused people, saying that they are not responsible for finding homes for people living with homelessness.

“The CCSMTL grants funding to community organizations aimed at supporting people who are homeless in finding housing that meets their needs, as well as deploying interventions to help them stay in housing.”