Homeless is “a huge crisis”

Radio-Canada talked to Serge Lareault, the city’s homelessness czar, who ran L’Itinérante for 20 years. He says the demographic of the homeless has changed: it used to be mostly men over 40 with substance abuse issues and now it could be anyone – new immigrants, elderly women, Indigenous people. The effects of the pandemic, with its loss of jobs, and the arrival of new drugs on the scene are both major factors.

A new rooming house opened in the Plateau on Monday with rooms for 28 people. After the other piece it sounds like a drop in the bucket, but they have to start somewhere.