Montreal

In Montreal, as in most large urban centers, homelessness is not a recent phenomenon. Historically, it appeared as early as the mid-nineteenth century and grew throughout the twentieth. Various factors account for this increase: the population explosion that occurred in the nineteenth century, rural population movements resulting from hardship and industrialization, waves of immigration from Europe, economic crises, and changes in the organization of work (Aranguiz and Fecteau 1998).

The initial social response to the problem of homelessness was essentially a charitable one. Originally, aid came from the clergy, religious communities, and the private sector. The services provided—soup kitchens, almshouses, shelters, clothing depots, and so forth—were intended to meet basic needs and were aimed at poor individuals and families. Meanwhile, the number of shelters grew rapidly: By about the 1890s, there were close to a dozen overnight shelters in Montreal alone.

For almost forty years, the phenomenon was relatively invisible and the available resources remained more or less constant. There was little community interest in the issue. Then, with the crises of the 1970s, the number of poor people began to rise steadily, as did the number of homeless. Indeed, although Montreal is the second largest city in Canada, with an average income of nearly Can$30,000, it now has one [Page 396]of the highest poverty rates in the country. The picture is the same as it is in most industrialized countries: transformation of the employment situation (with rising unemployment, more unstable jobs, and dwindling purchasing power), tightening of policies on support for those most in need (through benefit cuts and stricter controls), and reduced access to affordable housing (social housing, rooming houses, small hotels) as a result of real estate speculation. The phenomenon of homelessness itself has grown relentlessly, with the homeless becoming increasingly visible. Whereas in the mid-1980s, the number of homeless in Montreal was estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000, a recent study put the count at 28,214, of whom 12,666 had been genuinely without shelter during the previous twelve months (Fournier 2000). The number of community resources staff available to help the homeless now varies between 150 and 200 for the Montreal area alone.