Will Montreal's homeless count help its unhoused population? Advocates are divided

For the first time since 2018, swaths of volunteers will be fanning out across Montreal starting Tuesday night to count, survey and collect data on the people experiencing homelessness in the city. 

Designed as a tool to help document homelessness, the survey has lost the support of one organization, which says it will not be participating this year and describes the count as inconsiderate and inaccurate. Resilience Montreal says the count may have more negative effects than good.

"There aren't any homeless that I know of that are looking forward to being counted," said David Chapman, the executive director of Resilience, in an interview on CBC's Daybreak. 

"They don't find it to be the most humanizing thing … and it's not something that reassures them." 

For several days, more than 1,000 volunteers will be out counting and speaking with all those who are "visibly" homeless in places like streets, parks, alleys and Metro stations across the city's 19 boroughs.

The city's third edition of the point-in-time head count is intended to produce an estimate of the number of those who are unhoused. A questionnaire will also provide insight into who they are and what services they need.

Facilities like Montreal's emergency shelters and transitional housing programs will also collect and submit the same data in the coming days. 

Chapman says the numbers from these counts are "nowhere near accurate" as they don't account for "hidden homelessness" — such as people who are couch surfing or living in unsuitable housing.

Additionally, he questioned whether more complex issues — such as what he describes as the need for an Indigenous-led night shelter in Cabot Square — would register on the accompanying questionnaire.  

Chapman says the data collected may also have dangerous effects on the most marginalized groups by creating competitions for funding. He says it's important to be cautious about where the count is coming from and whom it is serving. 

"A count like this is really driven … by approaches that need to be able to use these sorts of numbers to demonstrate the validity and importance of a particular approach."

Shelter says data can help improve services

Caroline Dusablon, who oversees urban partnerships for the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, says all the volunteers who will be heading out as of 6 p.m. have been trained on how to approach people experiencing homelessness with respect.

She says the training also focused on the realities of Indigenous people and members of the LGBTQ community who are facing homelessness — groups that were disproportionately represented among Montreal's homeless population in 2018. 

This is the first census of homelessness since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and it also comes amid a worsening housing crisis.

Some advocates for those experiencing homeless are predicting the number of unhoused people will go up this year compared to 2018, which saw a total of 3,149 people.

Marie-Pier Therrien, a representative for the Old Brewery Mission shelter, says the pandemic led to an increase in homelessness in Montreal and some of the resources that opened last winter are still running at full capacity. 

Therrien says data from the count can improve the team's decision-making when asking for funding and creating new programs and services. 

"If we're able to identify the risk factor ahead and the type of situation where we can intervene sooner, that's the best outcome we can wish for," said Therrien. 

Sam Watts, CEO of the Welcome Hall Mission, says it's one thing to collect this data on homelessness — it's another to act on it. 

Watts hopes finding out just how much Montreal's homelessness problem has grown will help governments make it more of a priority.

"What we want to have happen is the whole of government to decide we really need to do something about this and so it's going to take that kind of effort and that kind of energy to actually arrive at a solution."

A total of 13 regions across Quebec will be participating in this year's homeless count.