Facades and cement
Our prosperity fluctuates with the heartbeats of the global economy, tethered to its whims and tantrums. When times become uncertain, belts fasten at every level of society: investors pull out, middle-class families start budgeting, and the most vulnerable individuals — often those suffering from mental health problems or disabilities — begin worrying about how they will pay next month’s rent and grocery bill.
In the aftermath of the global pandemic, lower economic activity, in terms of both production and consumption, as well as growing global instability, with escalations of armed conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, caused sky-high inflation in most of the Western Hemisphere. This led to the rising price of most goods and services, setting the stage for an uncontrollable cost of living crisis (Mui, 2022). Unable to afford basic necessities, many people are forced into the streets; in most major cities, the cost of living crisis and homelessness have become a noticeable problem. And now that these issues started bleeding onto our streets, impossible to ignore, residents started caring: homelessness outpaced other concerns and became the paramount issue of the 2025 Montréal municipal election, leading to the victory of Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada, who ran on a campaign heavily focused on getting people off the streets (Olson, 2025).
If you think that there are much more homeless people in Montréal than before, you’re not crazy. According to the Centraide of Greater Montréal, visible homelessness has more than doubled between 2018 and 2022. The non-profit charity declared that the problem was once confined to downtown Montréal, but that it has now spilled over to the rest of the island and to neighbouring suburbs like Laval and the South Shore (Centraide, 2025). Here, we’re talking specifically about visible homelessness, the most widely known and discussed type; it’s the improvised shelters, the abandoned buildings, the people sleeping in parks and in the metro. It is the easiest to notice and measure, since it is usually clear if someone is experiencing visible homelessness or not. Alternatively, hidden homelessness doesn’t imply the physical lack of shelter; rather, it is a lack of adequate, safe, and long-term housing. People experiencing hidden homelessness might sleep in their cars, cycle between temporary stays at a friend’s house, or stay in an unsafe or abusive environment without any alternative. While these people aren’t literally sleeping on the streets, they are nonetheless struggling with finding a stable place to call home. A common misconception about homelessness is that it’s some sort of static picture. While chronic (long-term) homelessness may persist in certain individuals, a lot of people experience it in cycles, where they alternate between living in a home and on the streets. As such, it’s hard to paint an accurate portrait of the crisis: while an increase is definitely a part of it, it is simply impossible to account for all the invisible aspects of homelessness (Centraide).
No matter its form, homelessness is associated with terrible consequences for individuals and societies. People with a hard time accessing housing will also have a much harder time accessing financial opportunities like jobs and social assistance. Moreover, social stigma around homelessness stunts people’s ability to reach out and get the help they need. It has been shown that discrimination against the unhoused multiplies negative experiences and leads to an avoidance of systems and crucial services, contributing to feelings of isolation in homeless populations, a stark and bleak demonstration of our society’s lackings and deep apathy. Finally, homelessness bears an extreme physical and mental toll. Unmet subsistence needs, harsh weather, and a very high rate of mental and transmittable illnesses are all risk factors which lead to a chronic lack of physical health and wellbeing (Chimowitz and Ruege, 2023). Unfortunately, these consequences can oftentimes be fatal. On March 27, a Martinez Ferrada in tears held a news conference announcing the recent death of three homeless people. While the exact cause of death is currently being investigated by the coroner, evidence hints at the exhibition of underlying health conditions that failed to be addressed due to homeless people meeting increasing difficulties and roadblocks at accessing healthcare (Morris, 2026).
At the conference, the mayor pledged a 412,000$ grant to the community group L’Anonyme for sustained efforts at securing and helping people at the encampment on Notre-Dame Street. Is that really going to do anything? The mayor claimed she felt “powerless” in face of the crisis, while literally being the one in power. The Montréal budget allocated 30 million $ to homelessness, an increase from previous years, sure, but still a performative bandaid that will not bring any noticeable change. Our city and its most vulnerable people deserve real policies that address the structural roots of the problem. First, mental health support is a crucial aspect in getting people off the streets. Many unhoused people suffer from conditions that make it hard to adapt and integrate into society. As such, they require continuous and long lasting mental health support. For example, policemen can be replaced with social and community workers when dealing with situations where homeless people don’t pose a threat. Another idea has been to make housing cheaper and more accessible to low-income individuals. Investments into public, subsidised social housing are an effective way to prevent people from becoming homeless again and breaking the cycle. These cannot be small pilot projects that only give a semblance of change; these measures need to be drastic and require hefty investments into the social net to make sure that people are off the streets permanently (Homeless Hub, 2025).
We are on a highway with our eyes closed, thinking we cannot get hit because we don’t see any cars. When has ignoring a problem made it go away? A tumour, our apathy and refusal to address the issue has made it grow from a spark to a flame. More than avoiding the blaze, our actions need to reflect a caring and compassionate society. While a new world order screams an era of isolation, loneliness, and rugged individualism, our current actions can reflect the opposite, and maybe, in time, pave the way to a world where we can finally have nice things.
Works Cited:
Chimowitz, Hannah, and Adam Ruege. “The Costs and Harms of Homelessness.” Community Solutions, 25 Mar. 2026, community.solutions/research-posts/the-costs-and-harms-of-homelessness/.
“Homelessness Prevention.” Homeless Hub, 2025, homelesshub.ca/collection/prevention/.
“Homelessness.” Centraide Du Grand Montréal, 21 July 2025, www.centraide-mtl.org/en/blog/homelessness/#:~:text=Homelessness%20is%20no%20longer%20confined,%25)%20between%202018%20and%202022.
Morris, Erika. “Quebec Coroner Investigating after Three Homeless People Died Last Week in Montreal.” Thecanadianpressnews.Ca, 1 Apr. 2026, www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/quebec-coroner-investigating-after-three-homeless-people-died-last-week-in-montreal/article_a044c5a3-5cbb-51c3-8f0b-e84bbcbed42f.html.
Mui, Christine. “The Chief Economist at Moody’s Thinks That Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Accounts for over a Third of U.S. Inflation – and That COVID Stimulus Had Almost No Impact.” Fortune, Fortune, 14 June 2022, fortune.com/2022/06/13/mark-zandi-moodys-chief-economist-inflation-russia-invasion-ukraine/.
Olson, Isaac. “Homelessness Emerges as Key Issue in Montreal Election | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 25 Sept. 2025, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/election-montreal-homelessness-1.7642985.
