Montreal city councillors table motion to declare state of emergency on homelessness [Video]

As the biting cold of winter looms in Montreal, a pair of independent city councillors are asking the city to vote in favour of a motion declaring a state of emergency on homelessness.

The motion tabled for Monday calls on the city to usher in a host of measures including mobilizing “all necessary resources to ensure all people experiencing homelessness can be housed” and requisitioning private accommodation spaces to shelter the unhoused before winter.

It also calls for allocating more resources to shelters as well as requesting additional funds from Quebec City and Ottawa to offset some of the costs.

“We feel that we’ve reached a really critical point,” Craig Sauvé, one of the councillors behind the motion, said in an interview.

“There’s an urgency to make sure we have enough beds and enough places and shelters to keep people alive and housed.”

“Different levels of government are constantly blaming …