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COVID-19 spares no one. While everyone is required to stay at home, it must be remembered that the homeless population does not have this luxury. How is the pandemic affecting this forgotten population? And how is she going to deal with the curfew? Those who are experiencing the crisis up close bear witness. Starting tomorrow, it will be forbidden to be on the streets of Quebec from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. The consequences of not complying with the curfew will be severe: offenders will face a hefty fine of $1,000 to $6,000.
Prime Minister François Legault does not provide exceptions for the homeless population. “There are places that are planned. What we obviously want, with the cold, is for them to be inside; and there are enough seats,” he said at a press conference. Asked about this, the Prime Minister's Office assures that there are enough places available at the moment to meet the needs, adding that actions are being implemented at the moment with community organizations and the City of Montreal. However, the tone is different for services and shelters, which feel that emergency services are already saturated and that there are not enough places available. Nakuset, who runs the Montreal Native Women's Shelter, sees this as a serious problem.
“Are you going to give them tickets or ignore them? In both cases, it's not okay,” she says. “You can't make people who live on the streets 'stay home' if you haven't given them anything. If there are 4,000 homeless people, we need 4,000 beds,” she said. According to the latest counts, 3,150 people were homeless in 2018 in Montreal. A number that has probably increased a lot since then. Only 1,526 places will be available for people experiencing homelessness, according to the City of Montreal, which states that it is working “in collaboration with the SPVM, the health network and community organizations to support and accompany vulnerable people with an approach of tolerance and compassion.”
As for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), there is still no concrete action plan for applying these measures to the homeless population on the eve of curfew. “A preventive and adapted approach will be preferred,” the SPVM's media relations simply tell us. For the homeless population, the outbreak of COVID cases and the curfew are factors that worsen their already precarious situation.
Greater insecurity
Photo: Christelle Saint-Julien
This precariousness is being felt in shelters, which are now facing a major new problem. “If there is an outbreak here, we may have to close at any time,” says David Chapman, coordinator of Resilience Montreal, a shelter for homeless people. The threat is very real: a catastrophic increase in COVID-19 cases forced the temporary closure of La Porte Ouvert, another shelter, last December. Near downtown, numerous cases of infection have also been recorded at the Projets Autochtones du Québec (PAQ) shelter. While the staff is on a high alert at Résilience Montréal, there is also a good mood.
At the entrance, the staff greet customers with hand sanitizer and a thermometer, and offer them face coverings. People are no longer able to linger, or rest in the shelter, or even talk longer with the workers. Inside, no more than 12 visitors are allowed at a time. “They come looking for food and clothes behind a plexiglass window. Then, they immediately leave outside, in the cold,” explains the shelter coordinator sadly. “Some people don't feel comfortable with this rigidity. But we explain to them that we have no choice, adds Mr. Chapman. You want to treat people with respect and dignity, but with these measures, that's impossible.” Instead of going about their usual activities, staff are focusing their efforts elsewhere.
“The real safety issue is for them to have shelter,” says Joyce, who works as a counsellor. Her role is to facilitate access to housing for Resilience clients, and to offer them support. As a result of the increase in the number of infections, all appointments on her schedule have been cancelled. “I understand that this is an emergency situation,” she admits. What she fears most is that the relationship she maintains with her customers will suffer. “I spend a lot of time helping them search to gain their trust. I am really worried that this whole relationship, that trust will be broken.” Near the shelter, at the corner of Atwater and Sainte-Catherine streets, we meet Mike.
“People are starting to get confused. What are we supposed to do? asks the young man, who lives on the streets. “Everything is constantly changing, people are confused,” he says, referring to the measures and services available. “Not everyone has a place to go. Now the shelters are closed, and people can't go to sleep. And I know that there are a lot of people who have to isolate themselves,” explains Mike. “People are getting chased out, and things are not going to get better,” the 30-year-old continues timidly. There were a lot of us here before — a lot of Inuit, Aboriginal people. Now there are only a handful of us left.”
He believes that many of the people he knew are dead, unless they found housing or left the city to return to their community. “Since the coronavirus, we've been bothered constantly,” he said, pointing to the metro station and the Alexis Nihon shopping mall.
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Inevitable outbreaks
A few streets away from Résilience, we meet Franky, who is currently living in the premises of Chez Doris, a shelter for homeless women. This 53-year-old mother lost her job as a building superintendent last October. She had just lost her mother, who died of cancer. A broken shoulder, which occurred on 13 December, then prevented her from returning to work. Unwavering, Franky remains positive, however. Her attitude is contagious; she makes us laugh all the time we spend with her. Recently homeless, she hopes that the current context will at least draw attention to what the homeless and vulnerable people are experiencing. “I have fought several battles, and this is the next one: homelessness, and the way people are treated.”
“Being homeless is a lot of work, especially with the lockdown in a red zone,” she tells us. “Every day, we have to leave the premises for one hour to have the cleaning done. You can normally go to the mall for an hour. Now, as soon as we go in, the security guards tell us that we can't stay there. You also can't go to McDonald's to eat for an hour and come back. Everything is closed, where should we go? ” she pleads. You have to stay outside. The heat stops have not been as easy to access since the outbreaks this winter.
At Doris, where an average of 70 homeless women are welcomed every day, the capacity of the institution has been reduced to safety measures. Currently, only 40 women can be inside due to social distance measures. Originally a day shelter, the organization was able to extend its hours of operation and has been offering overnight accommodation since December 1. Outbreaks in nearby shelters are worrying management. “There is a percentage of the homeless population that is positive at the moment, and it can be worse,” believes Marina Boulos-Winton, director of Chez Doris. When a shelter closes, it takes away a resource in the community.”
While the organization has avoided the worst so far, the situation remains worrisome. “I only had one case of COVID among employees, but I had to remove eight people from work,” says Ms. Boulos-Winton. The temporary absence of these employees forced the reorganization of the activities of the shelter, which then had to outsource certain services to make up for the lack.
“Public health told us not to accept new women,” says the director of Chez Doris. “We don't know if a person who enters our bubble is not going to contaminate something. We try to direct women elsewhere or, if they are newly homeless, we take them on,” she explains. Above all, she wants homeless people to avoid going to different places to get services. “We don't want women to go from shelter to shelter. They must now choose a shelter and continue to use the same shelter.”
The challenges of screening
Interviewed by La Converse, the City of Montreal tells us that it supports community organizations in the various resources to ensure the maintenance of services. But Ms. Boulos-Winton believes that the measures implemented by the City are not adapted to the reality of homeless people. If one of them has symptoms of COVID-19, they are usually referred to the Hôtel-Dieu clinic for a screening test.
People waiting for their results are then directed to “orange zone” services so that they can isolate themselves. Those who get a positive result are sent to the “red zone” to be treated and isolated. Places are limited and the establishments are operating at full capacity. “For homeless people, it is very difficult to isolate themselves, unless they are offered a room for the whole day. But not everyone can stay in their room,” explains Ms. Boulos-Winton. They need to continue to use the resources they need.”
According to the director, the coming and going of individuals between different services contributes to the spread of the virus, especially if these people are infected. “There are not enough services for those who consume, so they walk around and infect others,” she believes. The PAQ shelter, which serves the Aboriginal community, is one of the few establishments that offer this type of service. It has been identified as a source of contagion.
Shelters are asking for solutions
Marina Boulos-Winton wants rapid tests to be available in shelters, but also in open areas such as Cabot Square, which homeless people frequent. David Chapman agrees. “This summer, a screening site was set up in Cabot Square in collaboration with the CIUSSS,” he said. At the moment, no such initiatives are being carried out. “There is an ice rink that almost no one uses. A lot of money has been spent to give the middle class a chance to get away.
What could also have been set up was a big tent with adequate heating where the homeless could have kept a safe distance from each other.”
At the Maison du Père, which offers several services, including emergency housing, social reintegration and a residence for seniors who have experienced homelessness, measures have also been tightened to prevent an outbreak. Thanks to the status enjoyed by the establishment, seniors who live at the Maison du Père are regularly screened on site by medical personnel.
However, clients who frequent the shelter must follow the screening steps mentioned above. Jaëlle Begarin, director of clinical programs at La Maison du Père, wants the gravity of the situation in which homeless people are immersed to be taken into account. “We really want public health to continue to put us in its priority area — in access to measures, equipment and, above all, to vaccination,” she insists. “All organizations offering services to homeless people should be on the priority list to obtain the vaccine, especially indigenous organizations. If workers are vaccinated, they can then go to work,” adds Nakuset. She also wants the City to declare a state of emergency for Montreal shelters.
“The provincial government should have had an action plan, especially as winter approaches,” she believes. The director of the Montreal Native Women's Center also points out that the army, as it did in CHSLDs, could go and lend a hand in homeless shelters. “Homeless people could stay in heated tents monitored by members of the army. I really hope that at some point they will offer solutions before organizations have to close their doors. Homeless people have nothing, and now they have even less,” she concludes.
So here are the solutions proposed by the speakers. Solutions that are not new. Will the government be able to listen to them?
See you in the coming days.