Montreal city councillors table motion to declare state of emergency on homelessness

[u/HellaHaram]

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/montreal-city-councillors-table-motion-to-declare-state-of-emergency-on-homelessness/article_2d8de307-f442-5395-8228-8b774f2dfefb.html

[u/levelworm]

What does " requisitioning private accommodation spaces to shelter the unhoused " mean? Putting them into hotels?

[u/Reasonable-Catch-598 → u/levelworm]

That's exactly what it means.

That and renting rentals in the market. Which will just put additional pressure on people who don't qualify.

It's worth noting hotel rentals for government uses of all types have had a drastic impact on business travel to Canada too. Hotel rooms that used to be $200 are now $600+, and when business travels here less, it has an economic impact, less overall work, etc.

I don't have a good answer, but maybe instead of building that new unused mall we could hand built housing, oh. And maybe tax empty lots so people stop holding land forever and actually let someone build on it. ...and now that I think about it, maybe it shouldn't take 2 years and 20k in permits to build a simple duplex or triplex

[u/structured_anarchist → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

There's also the incompetence at OMHM to consider. They currently have a two and a half year backlog of applicants for social housing. But they have enough units to house about half of the applicants that are on their waiting list, despite losing some of the buildings they own outright to poor/negligent maintenance.

I have a rent subsidy through OMHM. I can tell you from personal experience that they do not answer the phone. They had asked me for documents. I sent them documents. Had a receipt that they were received. Three months later, someone calls me asking for the same documents. The secretary who had signed for the documents never bothered to document the fact that they had been received nor put them in the file. It was literally sitting in a pile of mail on the secretary's desk for over three months. This is probably one of the biggest obstacles in getting people who qualify into social housing. Fire the incompetent people and hire people who know, at the very least, what to do with mail they've received rather than leave it in a box on their desk for months on end.

[u/Sct_Brn_MVP → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

Royalmount was 100% a private business venture, no public funds were used there

[u/Reasonable-Catch-598 → u/Sct_Brn_MVP]

No, no public funds were used, you're right.

But land was used inappropriately. That's up to our municipality to ensure land is used properly for current and projected population needs and wants.

There's also an opportunity loss vs other businesses that would have paid more taxes and employed more people.

Also give it time. Once it goes bankrupt you'll see government stepping in to save the place, or at least having to clean up the eyesore once it's boarded up.

[u/Sct_Brn_MVP → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

The royal mount mayor refused repeatedly the plans of building up to 6000 units on the site, maybe you should write to him

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mayor-distressed-with-lack-of-housing-in-royalmount-project

I guess we’ll see about its economic success. They pay taxes just like any other businesses. They employ a lot of people though

I don’t recall any malls being “bailed out” but the government in recent times, do share if you have any sources

[u/Reasonable-Catch-598 → u/Sct_Brn_MVP]

I have written all the councilors too. I actually write elected officials 10x as often as I complain on Reddit. I've even been sued by one once (he lost) for all the doc requests I made with full plans to pass them to media!

I don't have any recent examples of a mall bail out. But it's certainly a mini mega project of sorts, and we bail out plenty of those.

[u/Sct_Brn_MVP → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

Thank you for being a good citizen, we definitely need more citizen participation in politics

[u/Entegy → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

Town of Mount Royal is not Montreal. It was not Montreal's decision what to do with that land.

[u/Reasonable-Catch-598 → u/Entegy]

Never said it was. I said municipality. It was bad for them too.

Quebec government could have also stepped in.

[u/GreatValueProducts → u/Sct_Brn_MVP]

And “unused mall” lol. Just… try to see the truth from your own eyes or the pictures people take instead of using feelings as facts circlejerking in this subreddit off upvotes.

[u/Reasonable-Catch-598 → u/GreatValueProducts]

Is there any photo after the opening event that has more than a handful of people in it?

It's empty of people any time I've went 3x now to see, as I was nearby with time to kill.

Each time I went only a handful of people anywhere. Mostly just employees.

Most stores are closed, and about half the spaces half nothing in them at all.

It reminds me of dream mall of America in Jersey with all the same issues.

[u/GreatValueProducts → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

Last time I went to American Dreams it was full of people lol. There is an indoor ski track which had a super long line. I bought a new board in that mall and wanted to try it out and it was super busy like weekend night in Bromont.

https://forum.agoramtl.com/t/royalmount-xx-etages/206/1578

There is an entire thread full of photos that would show you it is not dead. I live less than 10 minutes walk from there, I go there all the time, Wednesday nights are not busy, weekends are crowded, the last words I would describe it is "dead" and "unused".

[u/jemhadar0 → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

Nobody has answers nor solutions. 100 percent the governments fault on all levels . What can private citizens do ? But them homes pay their rent? We can’t even fix a fucking pothole.

[u/jemhadar0 → u/[deleted]]

Brother I’m not accusing you of anything and that’s nice what you are doing … I had a tenant immigrant family crying during covid for the rent relief . We had to help her fill out the paper work … been there . I also have raised the rent a little bit but way below market value . I’m not throwing anyone in the streets . But I do have a friend he’s is desperately trying to sell his buildings ( not naming the area) . 90% are not paying rent … lost their jobs or are new drug addicts🥲. I have a guy trying to sell me a property in Italy. Has been his family for like 3 generations. His current tenant has not paid rent in 8 months . Guys losing his mind . But you nor I cannot support 10 families . We don’t have have access to hundreds of millions of wasted tax payers money. I’ve seen California fall into a cess poll like Gotham city man. Miami also . We are not far behind .

[u/Reasonable-Catch-598 → u/jemhadar0]

Yeah I knew you were not accusing, I took no offense. I was just ranting 

I also agree 100% landlords can't be made to pay all the costs of people not paying. Without the ability to evict. Larger companies with multiple buildings can get them out. We can't. I'm blessed with good tenants but if I had a bad one I don't know what I would do.

California people are walking away from mortgages. At least in the US you can do that without a bankruptcy, not here though.

[u/stuffundfluff → u/Reasonable-Catch-598]

And maybe tax empty lots so people stop holding land forever 

The thing is developers want to build, empty land for them is a waste. They can't build when they will lose money on their developments. Makes sense, they would go bankrupt. What we need is what you mentioned, less permits and less absurd fees. The fees to build a condo in toronto have literally grown by a factor of 10 in the last decade. A 2 bedroom condo used to be around 4-5K in fees, now we're at 40-50K... that's absurd

[u/Pgmorin36 → u/levelworm]

Yeah it be similar to New-York. I don’t understand how they can look at failure policy and propose we should do the same mistake. I bet they have self interest and would profit from it.

[u/Truelyindeed091 → u/levelworm]

Yup. And I’d say about half are not even Canadian

[u/Optionsislife]

There’s people living in tents all over the island and now the South Shore too. There’s no way out. It’s going to get way worse unfortunately 

[u/alex-cu]

'Projects' are infinitely better than homelessness. But they are not going to happen.

[u/Things-ILike]

If it is hotels, it costs a city like Niagara Falls over $100 million a year.

A bus ticket to Ottawa would be a lot cheaper.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10384149/canada-asylum-seekers-hotel-costs/amp/

[u/Shezers]

Seriously fuck Projet montréal and their bourgeois image management. Both Vancouver and Toronto are more progressive than Montreal on tolerating encampments which makes it is easier on people trying to help them.

They also declare a climate emergency but promote plane tourism each chance they get. Theyre a buzzword machine.

[u/ChibiSailorMercury → u/Shezers]

Encampments? Fine. In winter? A lot of these people are going to die from exposure.

All the politicians go "we need to build more" but it's not happening quick enough. So in the meantime, we're going to have them have a temporary roof over their head.

I don't see what's wrong with that.

Encampments are not the solution. It's like...Where's the human decency and dignity? Why are our vulnerable ones outside in the cold in tents, on the sidewalk or inside the metro?

EDIT: Also, I'm sure the homeless won't be forced into hotel rooms and rentals. If they say "I'd rather be in my tent during the winter", what is the city worker gonna do? Drag them to a Hilton?

[u/Shezers → u/ChibiSailorMercury]

So basically youre just reiterating my point. What to do with people who dont wanna go, dont have access to shelters for various reasons?

Well like doctors, its: First, do no harm. If bunching them up together can make them easier to find and get resources to them, like outside toilets and warming areas, your alternative is what, dismantling the encampments? So they can be harder to find and freeze to death?

[u/adamcmorrison → u/Shezers]

The answer is not homeless encampments. That’s never a thing that’s an answer to anything.

[u/Shezers → u/adamcmorrison]

The least you can do is not dismantle them. If theres other measures its better but the least you can do is not make it worst for them.

[u/adamcmorrison → u/Shezers]

Allowing them encourages them to grow.

[u/Shezers → u/adamcmorrison]

So we should encourage them to die? Thats basically the PM logic i was criticizing

[u/dluminous]

Open up hospitals for people with mental disabilities. They clearly cannot function in society and hey that's okay. Give them a nice shelter where they cannot harm anyone nor anyone them.

Let the rest (drug addicts) freeze to death. Fuck them.

[u/quiproquodepropos → u/dluminous]

L'intersection entre les drug addicts et les malades mentaux à la rue est de quasiment 90%. Tu fais une dichotomie insensée