City of Montreal to build dozens of modular housing units to combat homelessness crisis

The City of Montreal is adding a new measure to its efforts to combat the growing homelessness crisis. A fleet of 60 modular housing units is expected to be ready in March 2025, offering vulnerable Montrealers a way back into housing.

"With the crisis that we have, it's really important to innovate and to try to find new answers and new responses," said Robert Beaudry, the Montreal city councilor responsible for homelessness. "It's in addition to all the tools we have already developed."

The modular homes will resemble the temporary shelters often used on construction sites and will feature single rooms, rooms for couples, and rooms adapted for people with reduced mobility. The city's plan is to build two developments each with 30 units, common areas, and washroom facilities.

"It's a quick response, but it's a temporary response," said Beaudry, who expects people will live in the units for one or two years while they wait for permanent social housing. "It's for the population actually who is in the shelter or an encampment, but they need housing and they are ready to do that."

"It's really useful for people who want to help themselves," said Sebastien Juneau, who himself was homeless one month ago and now lives in temporary housing at the Old Brewery Mission. "There are some people who don't want to help themselves, this is their choices, but if you use it as a place to get recovery, it's a really good thing."

Those working in the homelessness sector have been advocating for more temporary housing like this for years.

"We need spaces that are safe and we need spaces that are supported by trained and capable staff," said the Old Brewery Mission's executive director, James Hughes, who was consulted on the project before it was announced.

Once the project is built, residents will be able to receive tailored health and social services from their new temporary homes. For that, the city is partnering with the Government of Quebec and community organizations.

"What is also really important to have is the spaces immediately available," Hughes said. "In fact, on a net basis, we're losing spaces right now."

The City of Montreal has launched a call for tenders to acquire the 60 housing units and will choose the two locations in the coming months. 

That's a concern for the opposition at City Hall.

"The planning of this project seems nebulous," said Benoit Langevin, the opposition critic on Homelessness for Ensemble Montreal. "(There are) several questions still unanswered: where will these modular units be deployed? What will be the upstream cohabitation plans? In short, what is the long-term plan?"

Langevin did not oppose the idea of building modular homes in principle, but decryed what he sees as a lack of planning and "empty promises."

"We know that it's really important to well integrate those kind of facilities," said Beaudry. Next month, the City of Montreal is launching a public consultation to study cohabitation issues.

"The timeline of the consultation is the same as the development of this project," Beaudry said. "So the project is going to benefit from the consultation."

Beaudry expects the first residents will be able to move into the 60 modular units in March 2025; then, if the pilot project goes well, he intends to move quickly to build more.