Montreal’s public transit network is adopting a policy forcing people within its Metro system to circulate and not linger until the weather gets warmer at the end of April.
There will also be an increased police presence across the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) network and a closure of several areas where people tend to seek shelter.
The announcement, made Thursday, follows a round of consultations on homelessness last month, when STM chair Éric Caldwell expressed alarm over the growing problems in the Metro, saying it has become the “overflow unit for the most vulnerable people who fall through the cracks of the social safety net.”
But as soon as the STM’s measures were announced, advocates for unhoused people decried another government agency pushing the issue down the line.
Annie Savage, the director of the Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM), a group helping unhoused people, said organizations like hers and their workers are “overwhelmed by the extent” of homelessness in the city.
“We have to act because we have to ask ourselves the question: ‘The people we’re moving — even if it is done in a way that they are accompanied, that there is well-meaning, a lack of judgment and legal consequences — what are we going to offer them?'”
Savage said the answer to that question right now is “nothing,” because all the resources out there are already beyond capacity.
She and others are calling on the province to invest in long- and short-term solutions.
Caldwell, of the STM, said in February that the sense of security among public transit users is in sharp decline, making for an “untenable” situation. In a January survey, nearly half of riders said they felt unsafe.
In a news release, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said the transit agency’s employees could no longer shoulder the responsibility of being on the front-line of crises on top of their job to transport people and maintain the network’s infrastructures.
The growing number of unhoused people seeking shelter in stations has raised concerns among Metro users. The STM is temporarily instituting measures to discourage people from lingering and sleeping in stations.
Plante said the city would prolong the opening of its warming centres so that people seeking warmth in the Metro could go there instead.
The city is also creating a “co-ordination cell” between the STM, Montreal police, the city and the public health department.
“Its aim is to reinforce the alternatives available to accompany vulnerable people toward places better adapted to their needs,” the news release said.
The agency has identified nine Metro stations where it will be reducing the public space until April 30 to discourage people from lingering, including closing four of their entrances.
“The issues include cleanliness, the presence of criminal groups, gatherings and drug usage,” the release said.
QS calls on Legault to see crisis for himself in Montreal
Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal also called on Premier François Legault to do more.
“It’s extremely sad. There are going to be people who are going to be evicted, but at the same time, I have a hard time blaming the STM, because it’s not its responsibility to deal with the public homelessness crisis,” Ghazal said on Radio-Canada’s Tout un matin Thursday morning before the measures were announced.
“Let the CAQ government take responsibility. It’s up to it to take care of social services, homelessness, and resolve this public health crisis,” Ghazal said, adding that she was asking Legault to come to Montreal to see for himself the extent of the crisis.
In a statement, provincial Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant said the province had signed an agreement with Ottawa to fund nearly $50 million in homelessness services in Quebec, $24 million of which would be going to the City of Montreal over two years.
“We fully understand the feelings of insecurity of Metro passengers, where cohabitation is a challenge affecting many people,” Carmant said. “We know housing needs are crucial and that community organizations operating shelters are doing exceptional and essential work in this situation.”
Québec Solidaire proposed Wednesday to convert church basements into shelters to address the lack of space and resources for the homeless in the city.
Benoit Langevin, the homelessness critic for city Opposition party Ensemble Montréal, said the party welcomed the STM’s measures, but that it was calling on the agency to hire more special constables and asking Plante to provide more support to homelessness organizations, open year-round 24-hour shelters, create mobile clinics for unhoused people and drug users, and increase the frequency of shuttles for unhoused people.
“If additional measures are not implemented immediately, it is inevitable that the problems observed in the Metro will spread elsewhere in public spaces, creating new hotbeds of tension,” Langevin said in an emailed statement.
