Alexandra Landreville Cleary started her job almost seven years ago, and in recent years she has observed an increase in homelessness in Granby.
She and the four other street workers from Impact de rue Haute-Yamaska have had their work cut out for them since the housing vacancy rate began to fall in the province.
“We don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel with the housing crisis,” she says.
Lack of services and waiting list
According to her, authorizing camps – as was the case in Granby before a change of approach – initially made it possible to bring homeless people closer to services, which were far away for them.
“But ultimately, there was no service for them” to support them, she laments.
“Accessibility to services is difficult. It’s the revolving doors. That is to say, we accompany people, we take them to the services and they are returned [dans la rue]. That’s what revolving doors are! There is no service and it achieves nothing. There is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
— Alexandra Landreville Cleary
Audrey Sirois, general director of the Regroupement des organizations nationaux québécois pour le travail de rue (ROCQTR) agrees.
She observes a lot of helplessness among street workers because there are fewer services available. “There is no way to create bridges with networks or refer people,” she says.
In addition, waiting lists are very long before obtaining social or affordable housing in Granby.
“For HLM, there are 200 to 300 names on the waiting list. There are people experiencing homelessness, in our world, who would like to have a place,” she notes with a desolate air.
The shortage doesn’t help, but the high cost of housing also means that many people cannot afford a roof.
Ms. Landreville Cleary has notably seen examples of separation between young adults who did not have a reference, family in the region or even an adequate credit rating. The latter thus found themselves in a precarious situation.
“There is the cost, accessibility and the owners who also have the choice of people who come to live there. So the people we support are rarely at the top of the list for owners,” she emphasizes.
Dismantling of camps planned in Granby
In Granby, several small camps have already sprung up since the arrival of spring. According to Marc Farand, prevention and public and community relations officer for the Granby Police Department, an action plan is planned to defeat them soon.
“We don’t know when exactly, we’re waiting for the City to get information. It’s really on a case by case basis. Each installation will be evaluated by the City and depending on complaints, some will be dismantled quickly,” specifies Mr. Farand.
“Tents and other makeshift shelters erected by homeless people will have to be dismantled,” indicated the mayor of Granby, Julie Bourdon, during the presentation of the City’s new action plan. (Stéphane Champagne/La Voix de l’Est)
He also adds that if a makeshift shelter is on private land, does not harm the owner and does not give rise to complaints, it will not be automatically dismantled.
However, the City of Granby’s new action plan is very clear: temporary camps will no longer be tolerated. The Municipality intends instead to focus this summer on a respite stop open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to fill the “service gap” that currently exists between the street and the accommodation services offered.
More details regarding the operation of the respite stop will come in the coming weeks, indicated Mayor Bourdon during the unveiling of this new strategy.
For Ms. Sirois, general director of ROCQTR, if people are in camps, “it’s because we are in a system that is sick. We are in the middle of a housing crisis on top of a homelessness crisis.”
According to her, breaking down the camps goes against their work.
“People work hard to create connections and with the dismantling of the encampment, they have to leave the place and we lose sight of them […] After the dismantling, I don’t know what they have left.”
— Audrey Sirois, general director of ROCQTR
She also adds that this way of doing things has raised awareness among citizens and that they also go to meet them to bring food and sleeping bags. “We also saw a remobilization of the City to help these people.”
The City of Granby had adopted a similar approach with its places of tolerance, but “there were issues of cohabitation, drugs, violence,” indicated Mayor Bourdon. “So for everyone’s safety, it was not an avenue we wanted to return to,” she noted.
A makeshift shelter was notably installed in the cedar hedge which separates a school and the St-Luc tennis courts, in Granby (Stéphane Champagne/La Voix de l’Est)
In search of sustainable solutions
According to Ms. Landreville Cleary, permanent accommodations are sustainable solutions, even if they are not suitable for everyone.
According to her, there will always be camps because even if there are beds available at the Le Passant organization, “not everyone is comfortable” with this type of resources.
These makeshift camps are “a solution for some even if it is not perfect,” she believes.
Moreover, “we must know and we must not forget that there have always been camps for people experiencing homelessness in Granby,” mentions the street worker, who was already seeing them when she started his profession.
Le Passant also offers beds with a high tolerance threshold, she emphasizes. “People can enter even if they are in a state [intoxiqué par l’alcool et la drogue]. Because in their situation, to survive, they may need to take something,” she explains.
According to Alexandra Landreville Cleary, this is the type of accommodation that is most in demand at the moment.
The speaker believes that it would take more of this type of accommodation in Granby to tackle homelessness head on.
“They could return if they need to rest, to warm up, and that is also in the perspective [du haut seuil de tolérance]. Would that solve the housing crisis? No, but it would meet part of the need,” she says in conclusion.
It now remains to be seen whether the City’s new respite stop will meet this need for the coming summer period.
