On a strip of grass dividing a busy east-end Montreal thoroughfare from a block of residences in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district stand about two dozen tents, a reflection of a housing market that can't provide enough affordable homes. Tents along that strip of land adjacent to Notre-Dame Street have come and gone since 2020, when the number of homeless people rose rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Homeless people build shelters there and in other empty spaces across the city, and social workers — under police supervision — dismantle them, forcing campers to pitch their tents somewhere else, only to evict them once again.
Montreal and other Canadian cities are struggling with the seemingly intractable problem of homelessness and trying various approaches to stop people from sleeping rough, often with mixed results. But while the issue of homelessness may not be easy to fix, experts say what's clear is that evictions aren't helping. Isidro Escobar, 22, has called one of the tents on Notre-Dame Street home for almost a year.
Before that, he lived in a tent by the old CBC tower 1.5 kilometres down the street. “I lost everything after my divorce,” he said Thursday.
Escobar said the City of Montreal has given him two eviction orders. But he said that if he's forced to leave, he'll pitch a tent somewhere else. Not far from Escobar, Devint Vézina, 40, was rebuilding his tent for the fifth time, he said, adding his latest one will be big enough for 10 people.
“Where.