Canada/A 50-place warming station at Hôtel-Dieu

A 50-place drop-in center for homeless people will open on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the site of the former Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Montreal.

Adirondack chairs will be available for those who need to stay warm all night.

This warming station will be financed by both the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal and the Ville de Montréal, which will manage it.

In 2021, during the pandemic, Hôtel-Dieu's Le Royer pavilion was transformed into an emergency shelter with 186 beds, managed by both the Welcome Hall Mission and the Old Brewery Mission.

The closure of this temporary shelter had been announced earlier this year. Due to lack of space in the appropriate resources, a limited number of extended stays had been granted. The shelter was used until October 2025 by some 30 homeless people.

Since moving its activities to the CHUM in 2017, Hôtel-Dieu has been vacant, and no plans have yet been announced for its future vocation.

A warm welcome

Residents and merchants in the area were notified of the situation on Tuesday morning by a note from the Ville de Montréal in their mailboxes.

The director of the Société de développement du boulevard Saint-Laurent, Tasha Morizio, considers the opening of this warming station to be a good omen. In recent weeks, we've [seen] people trying to take refuge in the entrances of vacant premises or open businesses," she explains.

She says she sees a difference in the approach of the new City of Montreal administration.

We've experienced cohabitation problems with Hôtel-Dieu, but we're not talking about the same situation. In the past, it was a 200-bed shelter, with no outside support [for] cohabitation. Now we're talking about a 50-bed drop-in center, and already our shopkeepers have received a letter saying that EMMIS [Équipe de médiation et d'intervention sociale] will be on hand if we need help.

Éric Van Hoenacker, owner-pharmacist on boulevard Saint-Laurent, also believes that a warming station is needed in the area.

I think it's the right thing to do, to have fewer beds scattered around the city. I don't think we have a choice; we have to prevent deaths.

A quote from Éric Van Hoenacker, pharmacist-owner

Homelessness Plan

This announcement comes against the backdrop of Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada's statement last week that she would like to create 500 spaces in "halte-chaleur" shelters before the holiday season.

Three drop-in centers have been announced so far: 135 places at the downtown YMCA, 60 places at Sainte-Émélie convent in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and 20 places at Sainte-Bibiane church in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie.

On Monday, the mayor declared that more than half of the "haltes-chaleur" places had been confirmed so far.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/