Welcome Hall Mission giving extra meals to scatter homeless population in Saint-Henri

Maison Benoit Labre (CTV News)

The Welcome Hall Mission says it is gearing up to offer 100 extra meals a day to help people living with homelessness who use a hotly contested day centre in the Saint-Henri neighbourhood.

Maison Benoît Labre, which opened last April, is located next to a park and an elementary school.

For months, residents have raised concerns about safety, acts of indecency and violence in their neighbourhood.

Now, the Quebec government has asked the Welcome Hall Mission to step in and offer takeaway meals to those using the day centre in order to disperse them.

Sam Watts, CEO of the Welcome Hall Mission, explains the facility at the Macaulay Pavilion, two kilometres away from Maison Benoît Labre, already provides 1,300 meals per day.

"To add an extra 100 and have people come and collect them isn't really a big ask," he tells CJAD 800.

The request for help, he says, came directly from Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant, and Watts notes the meals are part of a pilot project to help the "overall ecosystem" of the neighbourhood.

"After 30 days or so, we'll assess how it's working and see if that is one of the ways in which some of the challenges in the immediate neighbourhood can be alleviated," he said, adding that the Quebec Ministry of Social Services is providing the funding for the extra meals.

Watts reiterates that the main need for someone experiencing homelessness is to find a place to call home.

"Often, we tend to have this reflex of providing a meal because that's what somebody wants right now, but when we hand out a meal at Welcome Hall Mission, it comes with a question, and that question is: how can we help you on your way back into permanent housing?" he states. "That's what we're going to be doing with anybody who comes over...we're helping people get back into permanent housing. We're not just supplying meals."

With school set to start soon, the City of Montreal has requested that the day centre be moved.

"Unfortunately, there is a lot of incivility," admitted Sud-Ouest Mayor Benoît Dorais.

Watts acknowledges that putting the day centre next to a school was bound to lead to "some neighbourhood issues if you're not careful."

"This [the meal plan] is an experiment. We're going to try something," he said. "The minister is quite keen on finding ways to alleviate some of the challenges that have been in that neighbourhood with the school right next door."

The centre's 30 permanent residents and the two safe drug-use cubicles are expected to remain in place.

For his part, Carmant says he is willing to move the centre, but the city must propose alternative sites to avoid a concentration of services.