Martinez Ferrada praises Montrealers' aid for unhoused population during cold snap

Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has praised Montrealers for the alacrity with which they have responded to her request on Thursday that they step up to help the city’s unhoused individuals by donating items including sleeping bags and winter gloves.

Speaking at city hall Thursday with members of her newly formed crisis unit to address homelessness, the mayor said winter had arrived more quickly than anticipated — and that, although her team is working on long-term measures to help the city’s unhoused and vulnerable people during the cold weather, the next few days would be important as temperatures were expected to plummet.

And plummet they did. By Thursday evening, temperatures in the Montreal area dropped to a low of -14 C and the wind chill factor was -22 C. Friday morning it was -17 C and the wind chill factor was -23 C. Temperatures rose to a high of -7 C Friday, with a wind chill factor of -13 C in the afternoon; the average daytime high for Dec. 5 is -1 C.

The forecast for Monday calls for a high of -12 C, with a wind chill near -22 C.

Measures by the city to help the unhoused population deal with the cold include opening a temporary 135-space shelter in the downtown YMCA building, Martinez Ferrada said. She asked anyone who could spare winter gloves, hats or sleeping bags to call the city’s 211 line to find out where to donate them. She also asked boroughs, businesses and community groups with any small spaces that could quickly be converted into warming centres to step forward.

On Friday, Martinez Ferrada visited the downtown YMCA, where army-type cots were set up, and saw that “just over 24 hours after triggering the emergency measures to help our most vulnerable Montrealers stay warm, the work accomplished on the ground is exceptional,” she said on social media.

“Hundreds of you have offered warm clothing and essential equipment to face the cold. It’s in moments like these that we see all the strength of our community and the importance of our social safety net. Thank you for your commitment and your determination to leave no one behind,” she said.

“Your mobilization is remarkable.”

The emergency shelter at the YMCA, operated by security teams hired by the city, is separate from the 500 warming centre spots the city wants to add before Christmas.

Martinez Ferrada said during her Friday visit to the YMCA that she was extremely pleased to see that the crisis unit “is so efficient in that we are able to make decisions very rapidly and put into place rapidly — with partners — solutions such as the one we see here.”

“By Christmas, we will have 3,000 places to offer, and that probably won’t be enough. That’s how significant the crisis we are experiencing is in terms of people on the street, and that’s why we appealed to citizens” for help, she said.

“We understand the challenges of cohabitation, but we must also appeal for tolerance this winter, and I will be working on a long-term plan so that we stop being in crisis mode and we will have lasting solutions to the situation.”

sschwartz@postmedia.com

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