A downtown Montreal shelter is struggling after switching to 24-hour operation

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For more than 90 years, St. Michael's Mission has been a drop-in center in downtown Montreal, a day shelter where people can get hot meals and showers, get help from intervention workers, and feel like they belong.

“We provide people with cutting-edge services as well as community,” said executive director Julie Faulkner, who refers to clients as “guests.”

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“Many of our clients are what we call chronically homeless. They need a lot of help and have a lot of confidence in us.”

Michael Morrison, a 66-year-old former foundry worker, has come to the mission almost every day since arriving in Montreal from New England three years ago. “I have nothing bad to say about anyone here. Everything is very useful,” he said.

So far, the mission has helped regular donors, including foundations, corporations and individuals, to fund the day shelter. But factors such as the rising cost of living and soaring homelessness mean the generosity of his donors no longer covers the costs. The day shelter's annual budget for general operations is $525,000.

Still, the increase in homelessness has increased the need for day shelters, mission officials say.

“What St. Michael's does well is that personal touch,” said project manager Tara Tallentyre. “We are a reception center. We are that link. We help people during the day. We rely on charities and individuals, but this is not enough. Everything is stretched. We can't do what we're doing without increased funding.”

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In December, the mission, located in the basement of St. George's Anglican Church on Stanley Street under Avenue Rene Levesque, received funding to serve as an emergency night shelter and operate around the clock until March 2024. The provincial health authority for the region, CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, is underwriting the $650,000 cost of the program.

“Our hand has been forced because there is no ongoing funding for day care centers,” Faulkner said. “All the funding we're getting from the province is to increase the number of emergency beds.”

The move to 24-hour operation means, among other things, tripling the staff, acquiring beds and more than doubling the number of meals served: from 6,000 to 15,000 before the mission began operating 24-hours in January. A supervising interventionist is on duty every shift, along with one or two other interventionists and three security guards.

Night shelters often double or triple capacity, with 30 to 40 people leaving each night. Initially, 16 beds and 30 chairs were approved, but as demand exceeded capacity, 12 beds were used and an additional 40 chairs were placed around the tables. Turnover means people come and go throughout the night, up to 130 on some nights. The mission's three bathrooms—two for men and one unisex bathroom—have showers, but the space is not designed for 24-hour use.

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“Our resources — physical as well as human — are very limited,” Faulkner said. “We're arguing.”

Many organizations that help homeless people have requirements: for example, clients must be sober or give their name or agree to leave the street. There is no mission.

“Many of our clients suffer from extreme and untreated mental health and addiction issues,” Faulkner said. “They may be of poor quality or banned for other organizations.

“Our intervention workers try to connect our guests with permanent housing, but many of them do not have access to permanent housing. Therefore, they need our support.

“Most of our customers don't use other features.”

“We're the place of last resort,” Tallentyre said.

Richard Roy has been homeless for about a year after losing his job. He has worked and wants to work in fields such as security and truck driving, but his piercings and tattoos say people don't want to hire him.

“The mission is trying to help,” Roy, 65, said. “I come here every day. We are warm, it's like a family.”

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The kindergarten operates in the same building as the mission. Faulkner said concerns about the presence of the mission have been addressed by the kindergarten, the church and the city of Montreal. As part of the urban initiative, he said, the mission also reached out to neighbors, local businesses and partners to build relationships.

Around 8 a.m. on February 2, daycare workers found the body of a 32-year-old policeman, described as homeless, outside the mission. Police said he may have been a client of the mission; mission officials did not comment. The case was sent to a forensic examination to determine how the man died.

The mission has been in place since January 2023. The city wanted the mission to remain downtown, pending an extension for the space it had occupied for decades at a church a few miles east of President Kennedy Avenue. Its territory is bordered by Avenue Saint-Laurent, Rue Saint-Antoine, Rue Drummond and Rue Sherbrooke.

Faulkner says finding a new place was “incredibly difficult,” and the space they found needed major renovations: One of them didn't have a bathroom. However, the mission reopened shortly after the move in February 2023.

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Mission board member Campbell Stewart said the lack of government assistance for the $250,000 cost of moving and renovations “required our funding.”

“The night program usually helps with administration, but we need a lot of money for operational costs,” he said. “With the exception of private donors, there is no recognition of funding sources.”

For Faulkner, it must be. “I think the government needs to take responsibility for its community members.”

According to Stewart, anyone can experience a mental health crisis. “People can lose everything because of circumstances that are often beyond our control.”

“Everyone should be concerned about that.”

With homelessness on the rise, “we need organizations like St. Michael's Mission that have an open mind and work well with other organizations in the sector,” said James Hughes, president and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission, Montreal's largest homelessness organization.

24/7 service is about getting to know people better and helping them get the services they need. Hughes said homelessness is a 24/7 problem, not a seasonal one. “It's not going to end at the end of March.”

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