YMCA inside Quebec offers homeless people transitional housing after hospital stay
Darin Luckey said it was a combination of drugs, alcohol and the COVID-19 pandemic that led to his life being ruined and him finding himself without a home in Montreal.
“I expected to recover in a few months. A few months turned into a year. And a year turned into four,” he said. “Then you say, ‘It’s -30 outside and I don’t want to do this anymore,'” he said.
The Montreal Health Agency has now teamed up with the YMCA to launch a three-month transitional housing pilot project that helps people like Lucky – providing a safe, private rooming option for people experiencing homelessness after hospital discharge.
People experiencing homelessness struggle to recover from illness or injury when discharged from emergency services, said Catherine Roberte, who heads program administration, addiction and homelessness at the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.
“People come in large numbers without an address for care and often end up back in the ER,” he said.
In a news release, CIUSSS called the program a “pathway to recovery.” Located on the YMCA Tupper site, which previously housed hundreds of asylum seekers, the project offers 48 private rooms – including units for couples – for patients discharged from the Jewish General Hospital or the Montreal General Hospital.
But an outreach team is in touch with patients at other hospitals as well as officials, trying to fill space as quickly as the program launched in mid-January, Robert said, noting that this will help ease the pressure on hospitals as well as patients.
“There’s such a huge rotation between ERs,” she said. “A simple wound, coupled with experiencing homelessness, can be very difficult to recover from.”
A new pilot project at the Tupper YMCA in Westmount, Ky. aims to fundamentally change the situation when patients experiencing homelessness are discharged from the hospital by offering them temporary housing.
He pointed out that often in such cases, hospitals insist on a long-term stay or even a long-term care home for recovery, which is less than ideal for a young patient.
But patients will have more autonomy in this new space, he said. They are involved with clinical services, case management and housing assistance. They can go to CLSC for follow-up care and return to their private rooms, he said.
Increase in patients experiencing homelessness
CIUSSS says referrals to Jewish General are currently prioritized, where the number of patients experiencing homelessness is set to increase from 149 in 2022-23 to 339 in 2024-25.
The site is currently at 58 percent occupancy. The YMCA manages the building and the psychosocial team, while the CIUSSS provides on-site nurses, social workers, and addiction liaison workers.
Robert said its aim is to provide care to people who have substance addiction, symptoms of dementia, mental illness, mobility loss and other problems.
“It’s very diverse,” he said, noting that they provide three meals a day as well as case workers to help find housing. “Some people are very anxious to find housing.”
Unlike traditional hostel-style shelters, this model provides embedded clinical teams integrated with hospital programs and allows stays of up to 45 days – longer than most winter shelters.
The pilot was made possible due to a temporary decline in demand for accommodation of asylum seekers, although the site maintains the ability to reactivate beds as part of the immigration programme, Program régional d’accueil et d’integration des demands d’accueil (Praida), The health agency says within 45 days if necessary.
Upon completion, the project will be formally evaluated based on various criteria such as reduced emergency department turnaround within 45 days and user satisfaction, the news release said.
‘We are treated like rats’
As for Lucky, who has been on the streets since August 2022, he said that despite efforts like rehabilitation, it is difficult to get himself back on track.
“We are treated like rats. We can’t make money. We are stuck in a cycle,” he said. “They treat us like crap, but then where do you want us to go?”
Looking ahead, he wants to break the cycle and keep the keys to his own apartment so he can get a phone and a job.
“Everyone says get a job, but you need a phone first,” Luckey said. “You can’t go to work in the same clothes for a week.”
Staying on ‘A Pathway to Recovery’ has helped, he said.
“I shower, I shave, I take care of myself,” Luckey said. “I buy clothes. I buy a tablet. I can go to my room and know my tablet is safe. It’s a huge thing.”
