Councillor wants state of emergency on Montreal homeless crisis [Video]

Independent Montreal city councillor Craig Sauve is calling on the city to declare a state of emergency to deal with the homeless population this winter.

Sauve said that because the number of unhoused people has soared and with the greater risk to sleeping outside in the colder months, the city should requisition hotel rooms for people without shelter.

Assisting unhoused people is a shared responsibility between the city and the province, but Sauve said that with winter approaching, Montreal could compel Quebec to step up emergency shelters in hotel rooms.

“When you have a secure place where people can stay at night, that’s not a tent, where they’re not in crisis mode, you can get better results with people because they have that level of safety and security,” Sauve told CTV News. “You can get further with them with the social work that’s needed with people on the streets.”

The …