Montreal budget 2025: Legault told to ‘get upset’ about homelessness

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Montreal’s executive committee chairperson called on Premier François Legault to act on the homelessness and opioid crisis on Wednesday, criticizing the premier’s perceived silence.

While presenting the city’s 2025 budget at city hall, Luc Rabouin, who is also the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mayor, urged Legault to prioritize the issue.

“There are people dying on our streets in Montreal, in the context of the opioid crisis,” Rabouin said.

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“I look forward to hearing the premier get upset about this, and say he’s going to act  —  that we don’t accept this in Quebec,” he added, receiving loud applause from his Projet Montréal colleagues.

The comments came as Rabouin and Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante gave an overview of the city’s investments in homelessness in the new budget.

The city said it will be committing an additional $3.3 million to organizations that work with the unhoused, bringing its total commitment to close to $10 million.

It will also be eliminating the “compensation” tax it charges non-profit building owners on their homeless shelters and transitional housing, which it says will save those owners a combined $1 million.

In terms of measures it’s taking next year, the budget notes the city will expand its mobile intervention team across the island and install 60 modular housing units for people experiencing homelessness by March.

“We’re doing the most we can,” Plante said. “We know there are crying needs and we know the community groups need to be supported, because they’re on the front lines.”

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Plante maintained that homelessness is a shared responsibility with the provincial and federal governments. She repeated calls for the higher levels of government to unlock a combined $100 million that’s earmarked for the issue.

Asked if she feels her calls for the money are being ignored, Plante stressed the funds are needed as soon as possible.

“If you asked that to a person living in a tent right now, or someone looking for a place in a shelter night after night, or people living next to an encampment … I think they would all tell you they don’t feel listened to,” she said.

The city said that, taken together, its investments in homelessness total $12 million for next year. Opposition party Ensemble Montréal, however, said the budget falls short of what’s needed given the extent of the crisis.

During a special council meeting following the budget presentation, the party’s spokesperson on homelessness criticized how the additional $3 million put toward the issue represents only a small fraction of the overall budget.

“Let’s call it how it is: It’s crumbs,” Benoit Langevin said.

jfeith@postmedia.com

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