Montreal Establishes Tactical Intervention Group to Address Homelessness Crisis
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has unveiled a new initiative aimed at tackling the city's escalating homelessness crisis. The Tactical Intervention Group on Homelessness (GITI) will bring together key stakeholders from municipal, provincial, community, and public health sectors to develop coordinated solutions and improve the city's response.
Shifting from Reactive to Proactive Approaches
Announced on Tuesday, the GITI represents a fundamental shift in Montreal's strategy—moving away from reactionary measures toward proactive prevention. "We need to stop those numbers from increasing," Mayor Martinez Ferrada emphasized during the announcement at city hall. She acknowledged the visible growth of homelessness in recent years, with more encampments and unhoused individuals becoming apparent across the city.
The mayor described the new approach as an effort to "undo knots" in the existing system and think creatively about addressing structural causes. "There's a great deal of frustration among everyone in terms of our capacity to really, really make a difference," she admitted, expressing hope that the coordinated group would enable more planned and effective interventions.
Coordinating Multiple Stakeholders
The 12-member group will meet twice monthly and includes significant representation from various levels of government and advocacy organizations. Alongside Mayor Martinez Ferrada, participants include Quebec Health Minister Sonia Bélanger, Montreal Public Health Director Mylène Drouin, and representatives from RAPSIM, one of the city's leading homeless advocacy groups.
Montreal Executive Committee Chair Claude Pinard will lead the unit, which replaces a temporary crisis unit established earlier this winter to address emergency shelter needs during cold spells. Pinard outlined the group's primary objective: "Ensuring the continuum of services offered to the city's most vulnerable. And when there are gaps in the service, identifying where to intervene to ensure the net is tightened so the person doesn't fall through the cracks."
Initial Tasks and Long-Term Goals
The GITI's immediate priorities include creating a comprehensive map of homeless resources in Montreal to identify unmet needs and establishing a dashboard to track the crisis's evolution. The group will also publish annual reports documenting progress, successful strategies, and areas requiring improvement.
Public Health Director Mylène Drouin highlighted the initiative's potential to address underlying structural causes. "The GITI will be there to help coordinate and unblock certain issues, or find levers to use that might not be within our reach right now in the current structure," she explained, noting the complex interplay of factors including mental health services, harm reduction, and community cohabitation concerns.
Community Sector Welcomes Collaborative Approach
Sam Watts, CEO of Welcome Hall Mission and a GITI member, expressed encouragement about the collaborative effort. "Right now, the problem of homelessness is so complex that it's important to have people around the table to identify where we need to go, what we need to do right away, and what we need to plan for," Watts stated.
He welcomed the city's move toward a more proactive stance, noting that community organizations have shouldered disproportionate responsibility for too long. The GITI represents one of Mayor Martinez Ferrada's key campaign promises, pledged for delivery within her first 100 days in office, which concludes on February 20.
As Montreal faces growing challenges with visible homelessness, this new tactical group aims to create a more integrated, effective response system that prevents individuals from falling through societal cracks while addressing the root causes of housing instability.
