City hall opens shelter next door
The city is opening a winter shelter right next door to city hall, in the Lucien‑Saulnier building. Thirty places are being made available, and the city is not waiting for provincial funding, a fact that they must have emphasized as it’s mentioned in several reports.
Other spots, one of them in UQAM, are being opened up as a cold weekend approaches with Saturday night expected to plunge to –17°.
Friday, La Presse has a few more details about the Lucien‑Saulnier shelter and a couple of other places where people with nowhere else to go can shelter from this weekend’s deep freeze. The shelter is spare, with chairs only. Would it be so much harder to put in bare army cots? Anyone who’s sat up all night by necessity would know how much a person wants to lie down past a point.
Nicholas 16:31 on 2024-12-19 Permalink
Is it fair that cities around the world have to deal with homelessness while suburbs are often free of that obligation (Westmount and others famously escorting homeless people to the city limits)? No. But that’s the hand we’re dealt and we shouldn’t shirk our moral responsibility to the less fortunate. It’s good to see some action here.
steph 19:55 on 2024-12-19 Permalink
Many homeless travel to Vancouver to endure a milder winter.
Ian 23:31 on 2024-12-19 Permalink
Yes, the homeless are well known for their snowbird habits. Travelling cross country is no problem at all.
Do you even hear yourself?
CE 00:32 on 2024-12-20 Permalink
I lived in a mostly abandoned building downtown years ago and we kept the door to the foyer open so a couple older homeless guys could sleep there. One of them bid us farewell in the late fall because he was off to Vancouver for the winter, which he had done many years in a row. He’d save up money panhandling for the bus ticket. It’s probably harder these days but homeless punks used to hitchhike across the country. I thought it was common knowledge that many homeless people make the trip for the winter.
Annette 04:46 on 2024-12-20 Permalink
Part of the explanation for gutter punk ‘trainhopping’ traditions was to seasonally retreat from cold places.
Joey 10:42 on 2024-12-20 Permalink
Could’ve just asked Ralph Klein for a one-way bus ticket…
Ian 19:13 on 2024-12-21 Permalink
I stand corrected, I did not know this was a thing. I mean yeah I know about riding the rails and have known more than my share of crust punks, and even I used to hitch between Montreal and Hamilton through the late 80s but actual homeless folks having the ability to save up a for a ticket to Vancouver… I had no idea. I guess it’s cheaper than rent for the winter.