Hundreds of people gathered at Place Émilie Gamelin and wound through the streets of downtown for the annual March of the Homeless Friday night.

The 26th walk aims to raise awareness of the problems dogging Montreal's homeless population — and how they're not being adequately addressed, organizers say.

"For many years in Montreal, the situation has been getting worse," said Pierre Gaudreau, coordinator of RAPSIM, which works with the homeless. "The situation people are living in is getting worse."

Winter hasn't even arrived and the city's homeless shelters are already at capacity, he told CBC's Homerun. He added that women's shelters across the city are over-capacity.

The organization has been clamouring for a multi-pronged approach to homelessness, to deal with issues including housing, health services, and drug addiction.

"We don't see action on this," Gaudreau said.

The march stopped at different homeless organizations and returned to its starting point for a vigil attended by Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, Quebec Solidaire MNA Manon Massé, and provincial rehabilitation minister Lucie Charlebois.

Absent from the crowd were federal politicians, which organizers want to target during the election campaign.

"We have been demanding the federal government to get back to a global approach to homelessness," Gaudreau said. "But with the Tories, funding has been directed to one approach: housing. That can't work for everybody."

On top of the annual march, RAPSIM and the art collective ATSA will host an event called Le Temps d'une soupe — time for a soup — where people are invited to sit with a stranger over a soup to talk about homelessness.

The event runs until Oct. 18 at Place Émilie Gamelin.