Mobile Reference and Intervention Team for Homeless Individuals (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

Quebec

City/ Region:

Montreal

Description of Initiative:

The team works closely with the homeless population or people at risk of becoming homeless who are often the subject of police intervention, and refers them to services appropriate to their needs so as to improve their living conditions and help them reintegrate. Specifically:

• The team operates as a working group composed of uniformed police officers and community workers from the Jeanne-Mance Health and Social Services Centre.
• The team provides second-line response. It does not respond to the calls.
• Each working group applies the principals of problem solving to reduce the number of police interventions involving the same homeless individuals.
• Priority interventions are those involving homeless individuals who are often the subject of police intervention.
• The work schedule is established to facilitate referral to services for homeless individuals.

Initiative Key Objectives:

This initiative has several objectives:

• improve the accessibility and continuity of services through better coordination among police, health, justice, community and municipal services;
• reduce information-sharing barriers;
• reduce tensions and improve quality of life in neighbourhoods that include homeless and street-involved individuals; and
• develop police service expertise regarding homeless and street-involved populations, their needs and the services available.

Section Responsible for Implementation:

Community service—South

Key Contact:

Alain Simoneau
alain.simoneau@spvm.qc.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

• other government departments/agencies

Level of Involvement (consultative - information sharing) and/or cooperative - direct involvement):

Cooperative involvement by Jeanne-Mance Health and Social Services Centre.

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

Since September 2009.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

Because of their urban spaces and the services and opportunities they provide, large cities attract individuals each year who may find themselves in vulnerable situations as a result of a break in their family or social support system and socio-professional integration problems they may experience. The City of Montreal is no exception. It is a major destination for people from many regions looking for new opportunities. These fluctuations result in significant pressure on the sharing of public space in urban areas.

Over the past few years, the SPVM has received approximately 10,000 calls per year involving homeless people. That is equivalent to over 30 calls a day that police officers had to respond to involving homeless people in downtown Montreal. These calls are from residents, visitors, merchants, workers, security guards in downtown buildings, etc. There are also a number of other situations where police officers intervene while on patrol.

Homelessness in Montreal has many faces. It affects a very heterogeneous population both with regard to life trajectories and the problems being experienced. For example, looking at trajectories, there are large groups of young people, men over 55 years of age, women and Aboriginal people. With regard to the wide range of problems experienced, there are people battling one or more of the following: substance abuse, alcoholism, mental health disorders, physical health problems such as AIDS and other infectious diseases, isolation, extreme poverty, social disorganization, etc.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

Assessment of annual costs for the mobile referral and intervention team for the homeless population

Payroll

Regular salary (4 police officers): $293,741
Overtime (200 hours): $12,824
Benefits and contributions: $105,764
Total payroll: $412,329

Physical resources

Telephone (including cell phones): $977
Travel costs: $2,000
Training: $2,000
Vehicle maintenance: $18,676
Vehicle fuel: $6,275
Total physical resources: $29,928

Total operating costs: $442,257

Project implementation:

Uniforms and armoury: $19,088
Office equipment (computer and telephones): $2,669
Total implementation costs: $21,757

Project total: $464,014

Method of Implementation:

One-year pilot project (September 2009 to 2010)

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

Since 2009, the Mobile Reference and Intervention Team for Homeless Individuals has closed 31% of the files assigned to it involving individuals who generated multiple police interventions on public property (calls from citizens). These individuals were placed in the care of the health care system, the community, or in some cases the court system, and are no longer generating frequent calls.

Availability of a Communication Strategy:

Yes

Key Messages used to Publicize the Initiative:

The key messages conveyed are that the SPVM is making every effort to reduce legal action against homeless people and promote reintegration and living together harmoniously in public space.

Extensive media coverage was given to the implementation of the team. Journalists accompanied the team in the field. Radio-Canada and La Presse reports, among others, had the highest praise for the SPVM.

Forms of Evaluation by which the Initiative will be Assessed:

• external

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

No

Summary of the Outcomes:

All community and institutional stakeholders, as well as the SPVM’s partners, recognize the efforts of this team.

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

N/A

Economics of Policing Pillars:

• New Models of Community Safety

Further Details:

Any steps taken involving homelessness must take into account the complexity and evolution of this situation. Homelessness and associated police intervention are the result of greater societal problems. SPVM interventions cannot be dissociated from problems relating to the social, economic, legal and health domains that directly affect the homeless population. On the contrary, all these problems place increased pressure on the delivery of public safety services.

As such, the directions adopted are aimed at implementing measures that will not only reduce tensions within the public space and develop collaborative solutions between partners in the various areas of intervention, but will also more effectively address the many problems that the homeless population often has to deal with.

Also, please note that the implementation of the Mobile Reference and Intervention Team for Homeless Individuals in Montreal is based on similar teams elsewhere in North America that, for several years now, have had good success in terms of the impact on individuals, as well as on the dynamics of cohabitation and on the partnership dynamics with local and institutional stakeholders from various sectors.

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

The Mobile Reference and Intervention Team for Homeless Individuals is part of the City of Montreal’s homelessness vision and action plan. In light of the complexity of this social phenomenon, the SPVM believes in a multidisciplinary approach and partnership because, individually, we are limited in what we can do. The team allows for improved coordination and cohesion in following up on serious cases that generate multiple interventions not only by our service, but by our institutional and community partners as well.

Record Entry Date:

2013-08-01