Mr. Speaker, the cold winter weather spells serious trouble for street people. In 2014, there will no longer be a shelter for the homeless in Saint-Jérôme.
Écluse des Laurentides is an organization that currently employs street workers to transport and direct the homeless to various resources in a number of ridings on Montreal's north shore.
The government has announced that its homelessness partnering strategy, the HPS, will be changed to basically support housing first. Although the objective of giving everyone a place to live is commendable, it should not jeopardize all the other services, such as those provided by Écluse, developed over the past 30 years.
It is obvious to everyone working with the homeless that they need not just housing, but help and support to get off the streets for good.