Mixed reactions as Verdun residents pack public meeting about new homeless shelter

Verdun residents packed into a borough hall meeting Thursday evening to voice their opinions on a new homeless shelter on Gordon Street.

The temporary lodging is expected to open on Dec. 1 and remain available to some 50 people at a time until next summer.

The shelter is set to operate out of 1050 Gordon St., the site of the former Jardins Gordon seniors' residence.

It had been sitting empty since September 2022.

"It appears to us as immoral to see that building stay empty this winter when we know there is a need in Verdun and the Sud-Ouest overall," said Borough Mayor Marie-Andrée Mauger as she received a modest round of applause from residents.

"Thank you, but I'll ask you not to get too emotional tonight," she said with a smile.

Opinions on the project remain mixed.

Several residents expressed support for the shelter during the meeting.

"I'm completely for this project," resident Udayan Sen told CTV News. "We all want to live in a nice environment ... People who are homeless want that too."

The Gordon shelter announcement came on the heels of controversy surrounding the Complexe Guy-Favreau facility in Chinatown.

Some residents and merchants in that neighbourhood said they noticed an increase in open drug use and crime.

That shelter is set to close, and Mauger clarified that the Gordon Street shelter is not supposed to replace it. 

"We are not moving the shelter presently in the Complexe Guy-Favreau to Verdun," she said in French. "There are solutions that are happening now to create more shelter spaces downtown."

The Gordon site will be operated by the same organization that managed the shelter at Complexe Guy-Favreau, the Société de Développement Social.

However, "that is the only link between the two," said Mauger. 

For some residents, the first they had heard of the shelter's opening was through a Facebook post from Mauger late last month.

They expressed at Thursday's meeting that they felt the borough hadn't done enough to consult residents before announcing the shelter would open.

"I'm leaving dissatisfied," said Carolyn Swayed, a resident, adding she's not against creating housing. "What I dispute is how it was thrust upon us, with no consultation. I think that's wrong."

"There are a lot of people downtown, and all the resources are there," said Anick Desrosiers, a PhD candidate at McGill University's School of Social Work.

She says it's unlikely the Gordon Street shelter will increase crime rates in Verdun.

"The environment is very different," she said, comparing it to the Complexe Guy-Favreau location.

"It's a shelter ... shelter from the weather, and shelter from the eyes of people who judge you," she said.