'Nowhere to go': Advocates weary as Montreal seeks worker to help clear homeless encampments

Advocates are sounding the alarm after Montreal published a job posting for a liaison officer charged with evicting unhoused people from downtown encampments.

According to the job description posted earlier this month, said officer is required to "intervene with people experiencing homelessness living in shelters, tents or encampments on public or private property in order to get them to leave."

The officer, who must have a degree in social work, criminology or a similar field, is instructed to then refer those displaced to "agencies that provide support to vulnerable people."

For unhoused people like Edgar Schubert, who has been living out of a shelter for over two years, the posting is bad news.

He says not everyone is lucky enough to get a spot in a shelter, and a safe place to live can be hard to come by.

"I found a tent in the garbage can over there and I gave it to a friend," he said.

"There just aren't enough places."

The city is short about 300 emergency housing units, and shelter workers say accommodations are packed full.

"All this simply does is push them into more forested areas or abandoned buildings where people don't know that they're there," said David Chapman, director of shelter Resilience Montreal.

He said clearing homeless encampments poses a safety issue for those living there.

"Advocates, for example, would look to be in touch with them, to find out what they need, to see the next steps moving forward -- now we don't know where they are because they've been forced to move. They're less visible."

Nakuset, director of the Native Women's Shelter, expressed a similar concern.

She worries that "pretty soon, we're gonna get a phone call saying 'Where am I going to go?' because the Native Women's Shelter is full, most of the shelter's are full. There's nowhere to go."

CITY PROMISES 'SENSITIVE' APPROACH

Montreal is no stranger to tent cities. Last spring, an encampment grew in the city's East end.

Police evicted those who stuck around after being told to leave, to the ire of protestors and residents alike.

But a spokesperson for the mayor's cabinet said the new liaison will act with more care.

"These operations carried out by social workers are done with great sensitivity," reads a statement provided by Marikym Gaudreault.

"Our priority is to bring these people closer to social workers and to put in place emergency shelter and housing solutions."

Another spokesperson for the city said the encampments downtown are not sustainable and need to be "addressed with due diligence and sensitivity."

"They pose serious safety risks, especially due to the flammable materials often found in encampments," said Gonzalo Nunez.