The Minister of Social Services of Quebec, Lionel Carmant, came to the Granby hospital for the occasion, Friday morning.
Of the 19 actions identified in the homelessness action plan, the respite stop was at the top of the list.
The Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant, announces an investment in homelessness, in Granby, Friday, October 4. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Two workers will be hired to support these 20 vulnerable people, men and women.
A recurring envelope of $688,000 will be devoted to the initiative.
A safe place for men and women
“The Partage stop will be a safe place where 20 people, men and women, can spend the night or rest for a few hours during the weekend, and have access to meals,” explains Chantal Descoteaux, director of Partage Notre-Dame. , the organization overseeing the project and which is known for serving low-cost meals ($2.50) to vulnerable people in Granby.
Chantal Descoteaux is director of Notre-Dame sharing. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Although the location is not yet known, we already know that this shelter will open its doors by the end of the year.
“What we need to get people out of homelessness is a shelter where they can settle down. We don’t get out of homelessness easily, people need a transition period,” says Lionel Carmant, Minister of Social Services, visiting Granby.
A warm stop at the Entret’elles women’s center
Minister Carmant also announced the establishment of a warm-up center at the Entr’elles women’s center.
Compared to the Partage Notre-Dame respite stop, this respite stop is now operational and is accessible from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., as well as on weekends.
The extended hours of the accommodation center will also allow women who use it to access new services: a shower, laundry service; they will also be able to eat and sleep.
The heat stop will be located at the crisis accommodation center that Entr’elles already manages.
It will be added to the existing services on this site, which notably includes five beds.
Sophia Cotton, coordinator of the Entr’elles women’s center (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Homeless women currently represent 50% of Entr’elles’ customers.
Around forty women with this profile have used Entr’elles services since April, according to a calculation by Sophia Cotton, coordinator of the Entr’elles women’s center.
A recurring investment of $80,000 was granted to offer this service, specifies Ms. Cotton.
“The goal with all of this is to become a safety net for women,” says Ms. Cotton.
Filling a “service gap”
The Partage Notre-Dame respite stop and the women’s heat stop will fill a “service gap,” said Julie Bourdon, mayor of Granby.
The mayor of Granby, Julie Bourdon, surrounded (from left to right) by Sophia Cotton, François Bonnardel, Lionel Carmant and Chantal Descoteaux. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
This “service gap” currently exists between the street, on the one hand, and the accommodation services offered by the organizations Le Passant and l’Auberge sous mon toi, on the other hand.
“Despite all the efforts we make to fight against homelessness, we are not going to bury our heads in the sand: there will still possibly be people experiencing homelessness tomorrow.”
— Julie Bourdon, mayor of Granby
“But we must continue to work as a society, as a community, to bring these people to services and to keep them in housing,” she added.
Need for supportive housing
The minister indicated that these new shelters must then be accompanied by supervised housing so that people can escape homelessness in the long term.
“That will be the long-term solution,” targets Mr. Carmant.
The government is also taking measures to prevent homelessness, he added, particularly when a person is released from prison.
An announcement to this effect was made in September, in partnership with Minister Bonnardel of Public Security, recalled Mr. Carmant.
“A balm on our community”
The two announcements, totaling $760,000 – a recurring sum, Minister Carmant promises – will bring “a balm to our community”, reacted François Bonnardel, who acted as master of ceremonies on Friday morning.
The minister repeated twice, Friday morning, that the government has significantly increased its investment in the fight against homelessness across Quebec, from 280 million in 2021 to 410 million currently.
The Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant, in a press scrum, Friday morning. On the left, François Bonnardel, MP for Granby, minister responsible for Estrie and Public Security. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Before the pandemic, the recurring budget for roaming was around 50 million per year in Quebec, according to Minister Carmant.
Partnerships
The “high tolerance threshold” respite stop – the Partage stop will even welcome slightly intoxicated people, for example – is the result of consultation between different community partners.
The list of partners who “agreed to join forces” to set up the Partage stopover is long.
Chantal Descoteaux, director of Partage Notre-Dame, lists it as follows: the Poverty Solutions Action Group (GASP), Partage Notre-Dame, Impact de rue Haute-Yamaska, the Auberge under my roof, the Entr’ women’s center them, Oasis Mental Health Granby region, the Community Development Corporation (CDC) Haute-Yamaska, Holocie coop de solidarité, Commerce tourisme Granby region, the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS, the City of Granby and the Police Department of the Town of Granby.
THE CIUSSS DEPLOYS TWO MORE FIELD WORKERS
From Monday October 7, a nurse and a specialized educator will complete a field team of four CIUSSS workers dedicated to homelessness, confirmed to The Voice of the East Gaëlle Simon, interim director of mental health and addiction programs at the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS, present during the announcement on Friday morning.
This team, which began being set up last spring, is made up of a social worker, two nurses and a specialized educator.
Gaëlle Simon is interim director of mental health and addiction programs at the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
These four workers work together with another team, the mixed police intervention team (ÉMIP), where a social worker from the CIUSSS accompanies police officers from the City of Granby Police Department, particularly during crisis situations.
“These two teams reach out to people experiencing homelessness, they support them in terms of their health, drug addiction and dependencies.”
— Gaëlle Simon, interim director of mental health and addiction programs, at the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS
The Voice of the East reminded Ms. Simon that the mayor of Granby had recently pointed the finger at the CIUSSS.
Julie Bourdon mentioned in this article that the health system was poorly adapted to particularly serious mental health cases.
The addition of new stakeholders in the field, replies Ms. Simon, will meet this need.
“Those who monopolize the system, who we call [dans notre jargon] “heavy users”, these teams will get to know them better, and we will be able to put in place concerted plans.”
For example, if these heavy users leave the system because they no longer want care, these CIUSSS workers will be able to follow them.
“This team will find them and offer them appropriate services,” says Ms. Simon.
“We will not be able to do anything other than adapt our services for these users.”
— Gaëlle Simon, from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS
