Prime Minister François Legault should take care of people who sleep in the street rather than those who pray in the street, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said Monday as she reacted to the death by hypothermia of a traveling during the weekend.
Posted at 12:44 p.m.
“We are in a major homelessness crisis. It breaks my heart and I know that many Montrealers also feel like that,” said the mayor during a press conference in the Côte-des-Neiges district.
Mme Plante then called on Prime Minister Legault to announce additional emergency funds for the homeless, emphasizing that this should be his priority, instead of wanting to prohibit “people from praying in the street”, as he mentioned it 10 days ago.
“And it’s not just me saying it, it’s Montrealers who are overwhelmed to see so many people sleeping on the street,” she added.
She described the death of a homeless man, found dead on Place Simon-Valois, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, on Sunday morning as a “tragic event”. The 55-year-old man was likely the victim of hypothermia. “It is unacceptable that such a thing happens in a society like ours,” she lamented.
The Coroner’s Office will investigate the event.
The City of Montreal has proposed sites for heat stops to the Quebec government, indicated Mme Plant. “We’re just waiting for the government to tell us yes,” she assures us. Or he tells us to pay the funds to open them and he will reimburse us later. But it is not enough to put people in a warm room, they also need services, for example in mental health. And we, in the City, have no nurses or social workers. »
Valérie Plante announced Monday morning an investment of 104 million from the City for the purchase of 30 buildings in Côte-des-Neiges, totaling 700 housing units, which will henceforth be administered by the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal (OMHM). The buildings have been put up for sale by their owner, the Carpreit corporation, and the City will acquire them using the right of pre-emption, so that rents remain affordable and tenants do not fear being evicted by a new owner. private.
“This is the largest real estate acquisition in the history of the City of Montreal,” underlined the head of housing on the executive committee, Benoit Dorais.
More details to come.
