MONTREAL – Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is asking the Quebec government to appoint a “top gun” for homelessness ahead of an expected provincial cabinet shuffle.
She made the request at a news conference on Tuesday during which she also proposed to spend nearly $22.5 million to tackle homelessness.
Plante asked Premier François Legault “to make a strong gesture, up to the magnitude of the crisis raging throughout Quebec.”
Legault has said he will shuffle his cabinet this fall, amid rising dissatisfaction with his government. Plante said it’s the right time to have a minister dedicated to managing what she called a humanitarian crisis.
Homelessness “deserves a top gun,” Plante said, borrowing an expression Legault uses for his top staff.
Homelessness currently falls under the responsibility of Lionel Carmant, who is the minister responsible for social services.
Plante said her request was not a slight towards Carmant, who she described as an “ally.” However, she said a problem as “complex and deep-rooted” as homelessness needed more attention.
“I would like it to be in their title, in big letters,” she said. “It would be their mission, their cause, their fight to find lasting solutions.” She said the minister could work with people who are experiencing homelessness, but also with different government departments, including housing and health and social services.
The heads of two of Montreal’s biggest homeless shelters also stressed the need for more action from higher levels of government.
James Hughes, the president and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission, praised Carmant’s dedication and knowledge of the homeless file, but said it would help “enormously” to have more power, budget and attention dedicated to the issue.
Sam Watts, the head of the Welcome Hall Mission, said all levels of government need to show more courage.
“Mr. Carmant has done good things, but the magnitude of the crisis demands a different response,” he said.
A fundamental problem, he said, is that politicians are elected for a four-year cycle, when the homeless crisis has been brewing for decades “and continues to grow.”
“So, what should we do?” he said. “We should have a plan for 10 years or 20 years, and the political courage to say, ‘Hey! We have to plan for more than four years.”
Plante’s new spending proposals include a number of projects, such as a $700,000 allocation for shuttle services to transport vulnerable people toward resources.
She also proposed to grant about $21 million to roughly 40 community organizations over the next three years to address homelessness.
Plante said the funds would come from the city, but she’s also encouraging other levels of government to step up in the fight against homelessness.
The city’s executive committee will study the proposals before making decisions.
Legault’s office said in an email that announcements about the cabinet shuffle would be made “in due time.”
A recent report by Montreal’s public consultation office found that visible homelessness grew 33 per cent between 2018 and 2022.
