Plans to open new shelter in Ahuntsic-Cartierville in limbo

Montreal's plan to open a new shelter in Ahuntsic-Cartierville next week is in limbo as no lease or sales contract has been signed yet.

The centre was set to open on Aug. 1. Welcome Hall Mission CEO Sam Watts believes more coordination could've avoided the hold-up.

"With better planning, we'll have better results and better outcomes. Now, the challenge we face, of course, is that the issue of homelessness is a shared responsibility," Watts told CTV News.

The shelter was meant to accommodate up to 50 unhoused people.

The building the city is trying to purchase is in a residential area on Bois-de-boulogne Avenue.

Some residents of the area oppose the project and have raised safety concerns. Hundreds of residents met two weeks ago to discuss a strategy to oppose it, and they're planning a protest on Saturday.

Watts says it's important to recognize that homelessness exists across the city.

"It's not just in the downtown core. So services are, in fact, needed in a variety of places, not just downtown," he said.

A city spokesperson confirmed it is still in discussion with the owner of the property, Fondation Gracia.

CTV News reached out to the foundation but did not receive a response by publication time.

Verdun shelter closing on July 31

Meanwhile, 16 kilometres away in Verdun, a shelter on Gordon Street is closing on July 31.

Jardins Gordon was opened as a temporary shelter to replace the one set up during the pandemic at the Complexe Guy-Favreau downtown.

"We do need emergency shelters, but if we do not have long-term structural solutions to the crisis we are currently experiencing, we're just going to push the problem from one place to another without any end in sight," said Marie-Frederic St-Onge, a coordinator with Comité d'action des citoyennes et citoyens de Verdun.

The city says it's working with local officials to relocate people at the centre.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the City of Montreal wrote: "We also want this to be done in the right way, taking into account the needs and concerns of the population."

The city purchased the Verdun building with the intention of converting it to affordable housing for seniors. Construction is set to begin in the next two weeks.