Verdun temporary shelter closes with no plans for a replacement

A temporary shelter is closing Wednesday in Verdun and with no plans to replace the Jardins Gordon, users and workers of the shelter are all taking a hit.

By the end of the day, Montreal will have 50 fewer beds to lodge unhoused people.

Martin Raymond heads the Société de développement social (SDS), the organization in charge of the Verdun shelter shutting down.

With spaces lacking at shelters in Montreal, he says the closure is significant.

The facility opened as a temporary shelter in December last year to replace the emergency centre at the Complexe Guy-Favreau.

Raymond says some 300 people found safe keeping at the shelter while it was open.

Jaridns Gordon was purchased by the city with plans to convert the building to affordable housing for seniors.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson with the mayor's office says: "The building on Gordon Street is of vital importance for a lasting response to the homelessness crisis."

However, that brings little comfort to Toan Nguyen.

"We're trapped. With nowhere to stay for 24 hours. It's a disaster," he said.

From inside the shelter, he says many like him are stuck without a place to go. Nguyen has been living at the shelter for the last five months.

He went there after being evicted from his home and now says finding new housing is impossible.

Raymond confirms everyone at the shelter is relocated.

Still, the effort was complicated when a new centre in Ahuntsic failed to open as planned on Aug. 1. The plan was scrapped last week after pushback from local residents.

"There's no place for these people somewhere else. They tried with Ahuntsic, and it didn't work. So today, obviously what we're seeing is exactly what we don't want to see for this community, having people back on the street," said Aref Salem, leader of Ensemble Montreal.

Axing the Ahuntsic plan also meant cutting 30 jobs at the Société de développement social. Workers at the verdun shelter were supposed to transfer to Ahuntsic.

Along with the shelter users whose lives were uprooted, Raymond says there are 30 families who are feeling the consequences of the closure.

He says the hope is to retain as many workers as possible by filling vacant spots at the SDS.

Some of the shelter residents have been relocated to other resources while others have chosen to live on the street.

As for the Verdun building, work to convert it to housing for seniors will start by the end of summer.