While many in Canada, the United States, and Europe have retreated into the comfort of their homes to slow the transmission of the novel coronavirus, individuals experiencing homelessness and those who are precariously housed remain particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19.
On an average night, Montreal sees between 3,000 and 5,000 individuals experiencing homelessness—a fairly low count by North American metropolitan standards. The 2019 count for individuals experiencing homelessness found 58,936 living in Los Angeles County. Nonetheless, Sam Watts, CEO of the Welcome Hall Mission in Montreal fears that information and instructions about the novel coronavirus do not sufficiently take into account precarious wage earners and those experiencing homelessness, many of whom are immunocompromised.
“The concern that we ought to have is not just for you and me, and how we stay safe, and how we keep our families safe, as important as that is,” Watts said. “It’s also about asking ourselves what we are doing about some of the people who are the most vulnerable in our society.”
As of now, most existing cases have occurred in individuals who have recently travelled or those who have been in contact with travellers, however, public health officials and experts have suggested that community transmission is already underway in certain parts of Canada and the United States.
Shelters and other facilities offering services to Montrealers living in poverty have adjusted their offerings to attempt to contain the spread of the virus. The Welcome Hall Mission has maintained its emergency shelter services at the Macaulay Emergency Shelter and the Old Royal Vic Hospital. Other important but non-urgent services like the Mission’s dental clinic and clothing boutique are temporarily suspended.
The Welcome Hall Mission has also curtailed the operation of its grocery shopping experience, Marché Bon Accueil for the duration of this week, in order to formulate a safer delivery model. Typically, the Marché serves several thousand of Montrealers every year, however, Watts and his team deemed the close proximity of customers and volunteers unsustainable during the global pandemic.
“Everybody was elbow-to-elbow doing their shopping and selecting their produce,” Watts said. “We had volunteers who were front-line serving. It’s an environment in which we felt that based on the information that we were getting from the health care authorities we could not continue operating as we normally do.”
Watts plans to open the Marché again next week with a revised food delivery system that reduces physical contact. The temporary model will be less-volunteer centric and will see front-line staff handing out pre-made packages of food to those who need it, instead of emulating a grocery store experience where clients browse the shelves freely.
On Tuesday, the city of Montreal introduced new measures designed to support the protection of the city’s most vulnerable against COVID-19. Mayor Valérie Plante identified additional facilities to accommodate individuals in a situation of homelessness and announced that the city would be lending employees to Moisson Montréal, the country’s largest food bank.
Services designed for those experiencing homelessness and precarious financial situations across Montreal are in regular contact. As they frequently refer clients to different facilities, Watts feels that it is crucial that services with distinct areas of focus communicate about measures that they are taking to fight the spread of COVID-19.
“It’s important that those of us on the ground operate together and that we all know what each other is doing,” Watts said.
Providing services to those experiencing homelessness and poverty in Montreal is proving particularly taxing for the Welcome Hall Mission during the global pandemic. The combination of the end of the winter season and the preventative health measures required to limit the spread of COVID-19 make for a challenging working environment for the Mission’s full-time staff and volunteer base.
“We’re in the tail end of the winter season, and so we’re dealing with employee attrition and illness and all the normal things that we would deal with among our regular cohort of employees,” he explained. “And then add in the factor that we’re having to do extra work to make sure that the place stays clean and disinfected, which is putting extra pressure on our facilities.”
Watts is also wary of the long-term effect that the novel coronavirus could have on the Welcome Hall Mission’s operations. As the potential for a recession looms, so does a probable increase in the demand for the services that the Mission offers. A slowdown in the national and global economies could also severely impact the Mission’s revenue, which relies largely on donors.
“We have to lean on all of our partners because we’re not in this alone,” Watts said. “We work very closely with the Department of Health and Social Services in the province of Quebec and with the city of Montreal. We’re looking to them to provide the support that will be necessary for us to continue what we’re doing.”
The rapid evolution of the responses to COVID-19 in Canada and around the world has also provided a learning opportunity for Watts. As a leader, he has found it important to be agile in his communication to his staff and clients in a time of such uncertainty.
“I think part of leading in a time of crisis is admitting that in this kind of situation any plan you make is going to have to change, and in some instances quite dramatically,” Watts reflected. “A week ago, we were really fussy about hand-washing and cleaning protocols and nobody was mentioning quarantines or closing our borders. One of the key takeaways for a senior executive is to recognize that sometimes as plans evolve you have to communicate even more rapidly.”
Marie Labrosse, a master’s student in English Literature at McGill University contributed to this story.
