Coderre to name a protector for homeless

Mayor Denis Coderre said the city will appoint a protector of the homeless in the coming weeks.

The protector will have the mandate to ensure equitable access to services for the homeless, assess the measures in place and to convey concerns and recommendations to authorities, the city said in a statement Thursday. Coderre and Monique Vallée, the city executive member in charge of social and community development, also unveiled the findings of two fairly recent survey/studies of the homeless population in Montreal.

One was done in March of 2015, the other last summer by a research team from the mental health centre at the Douglas Institute, which examined more than 1,066 homeless people in Montreal.

“Thanks to the count taken in March 2015 and the complementarysurvey conducted last summer by the Douglas Institute, we now have a better picture of homelessness in Montreal, ” Coderre said.

“The count allowed us to quantify the phenomenon, while the complementary (survey) helped us better understand ... the phenomenon of episodic homelessness,” Coderre said. The Douglas Hospital study found that the vast majority of homeless want permanent housing, but financial burdens, relationship problems and mental health issues present obstacles.

The study also found that aboriginal people are more present in the streets and in shelters.

Of the 170 respondents who arrived in Montreal after March 24, 2015, almost 40 per cent came from other provinces, and 20 per cent were aboriginal.

A third of respondents aged 30-and-under have stayed more than six months in a youth centre.

“The results of the investigation confirm that we must continue to multiply our actions if we want to sustainably reduce the number of people experiencing chronic and episodic homelessness,” Vallée said.

For more details on the homeless studies, visit ville.montreal.qc.ca/diversite.