Citizens from a family sector of Rosemont are worried that their children will be the next to live with the homeless when a church is converted into a shelter near five elementary schools.
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“It’s worrying for security. I am afraid of syringes, human excrement, indecent gestures, people who are in crisis because they are refused a bed,” says Geneviève Proulx bluntly.
The mother of two children aged 8 and 11 lives very close to the Sainte-Bibiane church, near the intersection of Saint-Michel Boulevard and Dandurand Street, in the Rosemont-La Petite Patrie borough.
Geneviève Proulx
Photo Anouk Lebel
The City of Montreal is in the process of acquiring the building to make it a permanent 30-bed accommodation service, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Worry
In the neighborhood, concern is growing, especially since the problems of cohabitation between children and the homeless are making headlines in the city center and near a new supervised inhalation center in Saint-Henri.
Since January, more than 1,050 people have signed a petition to have more information and to be heard by elected officials.
“We see what’s happening elsewhere and we wonder if it’s our turn. Is it a lottery? Is it only because there is a vacant building, without doing the neighborhood study?” asks the spokesperson for the group behind the petition, Simon Lévesque.
He points out that there are five primary schools in this area where green alleys abound and where more than 17.5% of the population is made up of children under 14 years old.
Five primary schools are located less than 500 meters from Sainte-Bibiane church, in Rosemont
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Crisis
Montreal is grappling with a homelessness “crisis” which has jumped 33% in recent years, underlines the municipal official responsible for the issue, Robert Beaudry.
He specifies that the City is looking for buildings taking into account several criteria, including size, needs and proximity to public transportation.
“If on top of that, it must not be near a school, or a CPE, there are neighborhoods where it would be impossible to open one even though the needs are there. There is poverty on the Plateau Mont-Royal, in Rosemont,” he said.
He emphasizes that citizens’ concerns will be heard within the framework of a good neighborly committee once the purchasing process is completed, at a time that remains to be determined.
The City is aiming to open the shelter at the beginning of 2025.
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