Small houses seem to be a good solution for more and more cities, but according to a spokesperson for the Movement to End Homelessness (MMFIM), it is a project that will never solve this problem in the long term.
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While waiting to build more housing, some municipalities in the United States and Canada have already followed suit, such as the city of Windsor in British Columbia.
The City of Montreal was opposed when the idea was first discussed. As the crisis does not subside, the City has confirmed that it is working with a plan in this direction.
“We have a crisis that is growing, unsurprisingly because we have seen it coming over a long period of time,” says Julie Grenier, spokesperson for the MMFIM.
The goal of these tiny houses would be to halve the percentage of homeless people by the year 2027-2028.
For the MMFIM, every measure that can help get people off the street remains a good thing.
However, according to the spokesperson, this would not be enough to put an end to this crisis. “We are still often, perhaps too often, in short-sighted solutions.”
Mme Grenier is also reluctant about future cases of slums, since this is not a long-term solution either.
Housing and homelessness crises are linked
According to Mme Attic, these two issues are “intimately linked” since, to escape homelessness, you have to find a residence. “If we combine that with the fact that we are currently in an accessibility crisis […] and even scarcity of housing, one phenomenon effectively amplifies the other.”
She doesn’t think it’s possible to separate them.
Watch the full interview in the video above.
