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The only homeless shelter in the entire West Island of Montreal is now closed and the Ricochet shelter is looking for a temporary home until its new space opens in January.

So, what happens to the people who depend on the shelter?

Clients and staff have known this day was coming for two months and had hoped the relocation committee made up of city and provincial partners would find a site but they didn't.

The shelter is now closed and 50 more people are on the streets.

The Ricochet Centre in Pierrefonds-Roxboro is being forced to close its doors temporarily after its lease expires at the end of May. It was the only shelter on Montreal’s West Island.

“Never did I think that I would have to look at the beneficiaries in their face and tell them that they’re not going to have a place to feel safe and secure. And that was just gut-wrenching,” said Caterina Modica-Amore, program and projects coordinator at Ricochet.

After three years, and four lease extensions, they’re searching for a new space, but have come up empty.

“With the city, with the borough, as soon as I got the news, we met and did another tour to look at what’s available. We found a vacant, well, the city found a vacant building, but we learned on May 21 that it was too contaminated to be suitable to operate. So we’re May 30 right now and we’re closed,” explained Tania Charron, executive director of Ricochet.

Last fall, Charron and her team with the support of the Pierrefonds–Roxboro borough and the city of Montreal scured a building that will only become available in January 2025 after major renovations.

At the end of April, the team identified another building, only to find out it was too severely contaminated for use.

"We're now May 29 and we have nowhere to go," said Charron.

In a statement, Robert Beaudry, the executive committee member responsible for homelessness, said the city is meeting with Quebec's social services minister today to try and find a solution to Ricochet's lack of space.

West Island's Ricochet emergency shelter forced to close

Its 50 residents are out on the streets with emergency kits but nowhere to go.

he Ricochet homeless centre that operated in the West Island for 3½ years, providing emergency shelter and transitional housing for 50 clients, closed its doors Friday.

Roughly 50 residents, half in the long-term transitional housing unit and the other half in the emergency overnight shelter, were forced to leave the premises. Ricochet gave emergency kits to residents with nowhere to go that included sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tents and backpacks.

Sachant que tout est à recommencer pour la clientèle qui se retrouve devant rien, les intervenants leur ont préparé des trousses de survie. Ils ont distribué cette semaine une cinquantaine de sacs à dos, de matelas de sol, de sacs de couchage, des couvertures, de la nourriture non périssable, une tente et 12 billets d’autobus.

«C’est un échec de devoir regarder une cinquantaine de personnes dans les yeux, de leur donner une tente et de leur dire: excuse-moi, il n’y a pas d’autre solution», a déclaré au TVA Nouvelles la directrice générale du refuge, Tania Charron.

«Concrètement, le Ricochet, c’était deux programmes: d’abord, 24 lits d’urgence, puis un programme de réinsertion sociale avec 24 places 24/7 pour aider les personnes. Nous, ce qu’on veut, c’est donner l’opportunité de rebondir aux gens», explique Tania Charron.

They found a temporary space to set up while their new building was being renovated, but that plan came crumbling down in recent weeks upon the discovery that the new structure was too contaminated to move in.

By the end of May, the shelter had to close its doors, with nowhere to go as it scrambled to find a new space.

Tania Charron, executive director of Rocochet, said her team, the borough and the City of Montreal had been working to find a new temporary place before the end of the lease for months. They finally thought they had a safe plan when the city offered up one of its vacant buildings until the news of its contamination.

«Sur mon bail, c’est écrit que je paie en cash, ici, dans l’immeuble. Ça fait trois mois que j’essaie de payer, mais eux veulent que je paie avec des chèques postdatés ou que je fasse une heure de trajet pour aller donner l’argent comptant à leur bureau», explique William Riley, qui vit depuis plus d’un an au 2215 boulevard Rosemont, à Montréal.

M. Riley est poursuivi au Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) par son nouveau locateur, la société 2215 Rosemont inc., appartenant à Mark Kilajian. Ce dernier demande la résiliation du bail à cause d’un retard de paiement de son loyer de plus de trois semaines. Dans l’immeuble de 67 logements, une vingtaine d’autres locataires ont reçu le même avis.

Welcome Hall Mission CEO Sam Watts on a new report revealing Montreal is taxing emergency shelters.

Shepherds of Good Hope proposing 4th facility in city's Carlington neighbourhood

The City of Ottawa must consider the potential impact on the surrounding community before allocating money from a federal housing fund to supportive housing projects, councillors decided Wednesday.

The funding in question comes from the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), which pledged $176 million toward housing in Ottawa. Ninety per cent of that money was allocated to affordable housing projects that are ready to build but lack funding, such as the proposed Shepherds facility.

The shelter in Pierrefonds-Roxboro is being forced to move by the end of March.

The regional health authority is reclaiming the building Ricochet has been using as it needs the space.

“We have always known we were going to have to move, the space was loaned to us for free by the CIUSSS,” executive director Tania Charron said.

QUEBEC — With Premier François Legault and his government describing conditions as a perfect storm, Quebec’s minister responsible for social services announced Thursday that the province will devote an additional $15.5 million for shelters to help unhoused people on the street make it through the winter.

"We've got people who walk alongside them for a couple of months, and then they're on their own," he told The Current's Matt Galloway.

The program was born mid-2021, after intervention workers noticed many people falling into homelessness since the beginning of the pandemic didn't fit the usual profile.

"[They're] somebody who's just struggling and a few dollars away from homelessness, unable to pay their rent, or they're part of maybe a classic rental eviction," he said.

Domestic Violence resource locator.

Various services for the homeless.

“It took a pandemic to get this place to open,” said general director Tania Charron. “Because no one believed there was homelessness in the West Island. No-bo-dy.”

Welcome Hall Mission’s range of programs and services are transforming the lives of Montrealers in need every single day. Thanks to the generosity of donors, our beneficiaries have access to free groceries, emergency shelter, community resources, recovery and so much more!

Provides a safe environment where women can begin to rebuild their lives. We offer support and frontline services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis (Indigenous) women and children to promote their empowerment and independence. The NWSM is the only women’s shelter in Montreal that provides services exclusively to Indigenous women and their children. Women are offered an up to three month stay in one of 13 private rooms, many of which are capable of accommodating more than one person so that women may stay with their children.

There is a zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol at the shelter.

Like every young person, homeless and at risk youth have a full spectrum of needs. At Dans la rue, they can find a multifaceted approach that addresses all aspects of their lives to help them get off the street and permanently transition away from high risk situations.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Quebec has increased by a whopping 44 per cent since 2018, a new report has found.

In terms of sheer numbers, Montreal is by far the most affected, accounting for the majority of homeless people in Quebec.

Useful links to resources in the montreal area.

Montreal's largest homelessness organization.

We are a community organization dedicated to helping people with mental health problems achieve their fullest potential while meeting the challenges of everyday living within their community.

Young people who experience residential instability in WI use strategies such as couchsurfing, crowding and exchange of services making homelessness invisible to society. We call this phenomenon ‘hidden homelessness’

City Of Montreal Web site.