Quebec announced money on Friday to provide transitional housing and other homeless services to cities and towns outside of the province’s largest cities.
Speaking in Rimouski, Que., Lionel Carmant, Quebec’s deputy health minister, announced $7.6 million to boost services for homeless people across the province.
The money will go toward new housing and emergency services for people who are homeless in several Quebec regions, including $347,000 for the first-ever transitional housing service in the city of Rimouski in Quebec’s Lower St. Lawrence region.
“The rise of homelessness, a direct consequence of a simultaneous crisis in housing, opioids and the cost of living, is no longer confined to Montreal, but is now a reality in every region of Quebec,” Carmant said.
Luc Jobin, the director of En tout C.A.S., the organization slated to manage the new transitional housing shelter, said they had not yet found a location for it. He said the organization would also have to ensure the future location was in a socially acceptable place.
“It’s good news and it’s good news for all the organizations in the region,” he said. “$350,000 is a large sum, maybe we need a little bit more … but it’s certainly a very positive announcement.”
Jobin said Rimouski was starting to have the same problems with cohabitation that other larger cities in Quebec have been having.
The City of Montreal has intervened in 460 homeless encampments in the past year. And with warm weather on the way, front-line workers are expecting to see more.
Meanwhile, a new affordable and social housing development officially opened in Quebec City on Friday.
The building, L’Albédo, is 12 storeys and has 128 social and affordable housing units for semi-independent seniors, people living with an intellectual disability and people with special needs.
Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand attended the official opening alongside officials from both the federal and provincial governments.
The officials heaped praise on the project, and Marchand highlighted how the building will be heated and cooled using excess thermal energy from a nearby skating rink, the Centre de glaces Intact Assurance.
“This project shows that the construction of social and affordable housing can go hand-in-hand with innovation, service quality, comfort and sustainability,” Marchand said in a statement.
Built by La Bouée, company that develops community housing, the building cost just over $60 million to build and much of the money for it came from all three levels of government.