Quebec, Ottawa announce funding deal to fight homelessness, add shelter spaces

MONTREAL — Ottawa and Quebec announced an agreement Friday to help unhoused Quebecers as homeless encampments continue to multiply in the province and frigid weather sets in.

The federal government is providing $50 million over two years as part of a $250-million envelope announced in the last federal budget to address homelessness and encampments across the country.

“This funding will reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness outside shelters, in particular those living in encampments,” Soraya Martinez Ferrada, federal tourism minister and minister responsible for economic development in Quebec, told a news conference in Montreal.

“This agreement would also help communities across Quebec to provide shelter spaces to ensure that people in need have a safe, warm space during the winter months,” she said.

The money will be given to the new Crown corporation overseeing Quebec’s public health-care system, which will distribute the funds to the regions of Quebec. Montreal is set to receive half the federal money.

Chantal Rouleau, Quebec’s social solidarity and community action minister, said the money will be used to hire more street intervention workers, create additional shelter spaces and help people find stable housing.

Robert Beaudry, the Montreal executive committee member responsible for homelessness, said it is needed urgently to make a difference as the weather gets colder.

“The holiday season is upon us and, unfortunately, every evening dozens of people are turned away from shelters in Montreal,” he said. “So they’re left to fend for themselves, on the streets, in our parks, without water, without heat, without bathrooms, often with very little support,” he added.

The Quebec government said it will allocate $50 million to address encampments, drawn from $400 million it has committed to fight homelessness from 2021 to 2026.

However, Montreal says Quebec is not doing enough. Following the press conference, Beaudry said Quebec’s contribution is from previously promised sums rather than new money.

“All the cities in Quebec expect the government of Quebec to increase the amount of money and match the amount of money that the federal (government) put to respond to this crisis, right now,” he said in an interview.

In early November, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said a “constitutional fight” between Quebec and Canada was tying up $50 million from Ottawa and an additional $50 million from Quebec City that the city urgently needed to deal with its worsening homelessness problem.

Radio-Canada had previously reported that negotiations had stalled because Quebec was resisting the conditions attached to the federal money.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2024.

Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press