Chez Doris opens new social rooming house for vulnerable women in Montreal

For one of the 11 women who will be moving into a new, permanent rooming house in Montreal's Ville-Marie borough on July 2, her private room represents peace, at last.

Alexandra Delgado, the co-ordinator responsible for reintegration and housing support at Chez Doris, said the 62-year-old woman told her she had been homeless on and off for two decades.

"The first thing she told me is, 'I'm tired. I want to be in a space where I can trust those around me. I just want to be at peace,'" Delgado said. 

Chez Doris, which already operates a day shelter and overnight shelter for women in Montreal, as well as a health and social services centre, will eventually welcome a total of 20 women to the Bash Shetty Residence, named for its main donor.

"It will remove 20 women out of homelessness that you could be seeing walking around in the west end of the city," said Marina Boulos-Winton, the agency's executive director, at the inauguration of the new residence Tuesday.

The residence is made up of six apartment buildings, each one with shared common areas and three to five private bedrooms.

Boulos-Winton said each tenant will be expected to pay up to 25 per cent of her annual income toward the $858 monthly rent. Provincial subsidies will cover the balance. The annual lease is renewable, and tenants can stay as long their income doesn't surpass $32,500 a year.

"It means that they could eventually maybe even have a job, let's say in retail or elsewhere in the restaurant business, and still continue to live here," said Boulos-Winton.

The residence is open to any woman who is a permanent resident or Canadian citizen. Children are not permitted.

There will be an overnight security guard, and two psychosocial support workers will help tenants develop life skills and adapt to their new living situation. 

Temporary shelters filled to bursting

Boulos-Winton said she hopes the residence will alleviate pressure on the temporary shelter system, which she says has been feeling the stress of a growing number of people in precarious living situations since the start of the pandemic. 

Before the pandemic, 20 per cent of Chez Doris's clientele experienced homelessness. Today, that percentage has tripled. More than a third of the 1,500 women who used the agency's services last year found themselves homeless for the first time, Boulos-Winton said.

"It's systemic of the price of rent. It's systemic of other situations like, you know, domestic abuse. It's systemic of a lack of mental health services," she said.

Projet Montréal Coun. Josefina Blanco, the executive committee member responsible for dealing with homelessness and social inclusion, says she knows women's shelters are operating at full capacity. She said the city is working toward adding 1,200 new social housing units. 

Fewer Montreal rooming houses 

The new residence is a welcome reversal of an alarming trend, according to the city's executive committee member in charge of housing, Coun. Benoit Dorais.

Dorais said the number of rooming houses in Montreal has been decreasing year after year, and the city is actively trying to change that, since they're an important way to keep housing affordable for people with limited means.

"The rooming houses, we have to keep them. They are really the last bastion against homelessness," said Dorais.

"It makes a big difference to know that your [landlord's] primary mission is to lodge and not to make profit or speculate," he said.

Delgado said rooming houses are a good place for people who have been living in precarious situations to build their autonomy.

"When you have your own bedroom, your basic needs are already addressed," said Delgado. "Autonomy is returned to the person, in fact, we give them back power over their own lives."

She says she looks forward to accompanying the women as they transition to their lives in a permanent home. She said there is a plan in place to follow up with anyone who decides to leave, to try to make sure they don't fall through the cracks and into homelessness again. 

The Bash Shetty Residence was funded by grants of over $5 million from the City of Montreal and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, as well as more than $1 million from private donors.