Welcome Hall Mission hopes to build transitional housing centre for Montreal's homeless
It's mostly an empty space at the moment, as engineers and Welcome Hall Mission board members tour the building, but in the future, the hope is that it will be a functioning transitional housing space where someone can sleep and get a meal.
Welcome Hall Mission CEO Sam Watts stresses, however, that it will not be a shelter.
"We inherited a 100-year-old system whereby the shelter was considered a destination for people and people would come and go from that location," he said.
The new space, he said, will focus on getting people back into permanent housing quickly.
"The issue isn't how quickly can I shelter you? The issue is how quickly can I help you find a permanent place to call home?" said Watts.
The Welcome Hall plans to buy a building on Ontario Street East near Parthenais to set up units for around 50 men and women.
The building will have common areas and dedicated staff to help find permanent housing and other services.
"We have a variety of connected services," said Watts. "Our dental clinic, for example, a mental health services, employment services... Ultimately, this is really aobut helping people get back into permanent housing."
Homelessness in Montreal has been on the rise, and safety in the metro system has become a growing concern.
Watts believes that the solution is in addressing the root causes of homelessness and that the Welcome Halls's rapid housing program is seeing success.
It has housed close to 400 people in the past two years.
"If we scale it up, I think we'll see a decline in visible homelessness, and we'll see an increase in people who are treated with dignity and who are actually productive citizens of our city," he said.
Watts said the provincial government has committed to funding daily operations but purchasing and renovating the space on Ontario Street comes with a $5 million price tag.
"We're going to be looking for lots of help from Montrealers who historically have always stepped up to help us," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Ottawa pizzeria places among top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world at international competition
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Wildfire near Fort McMurray more than triples overnight, several evacuation alerts remain in place
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Putin replaces Russian defence minister in rare cabinet shakeup
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Man fatally 'slashed in the neck' in downtown Toronto, suspect outstanding
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
WATCH Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Edibles, armchairs and adapters: Here are the recalls for this week
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.