Montreal’s Hippodrome to be transformed into modular housing for the homeless

Montreal’s Hippodrome will soon be put to use and have the facilities to house up to 30 people with modular housing.

It’s still a work in progress, but once complete there will be 28 rooms, including two units for couples.

Modular homes are often referred to as transitional housing and designed for people to live in for a few years.

“It’s an in-between, for people who are ready to get an apartment but don’t have a place,” Robert Beaudry, from Montreal’s Executive Committee, said.

The units still need to be renovated, but tenants will have a room with a shared bathroom, access to a kitchen and a dining room.

Beaudry says this has been done elsewhere in Canada, but it’s the first time Montreal offers this type of housing to the homeless.

For those looking for a more stable living situation, it can make all the difference.

“It’s really important to have a place, a proper place, their home with services, with stability. A place that they going to be in security,” Beaudry said.

Sam Watts from the Welcome Hall Mission says modular homes are a good first step, but the project needs to be well-run, with people eventually moving into permanent housing.

“If they turn into something that’s anything other than that, then it isn’t actually very helpful to the people who need permanent, supportive housing,” Watts said.

Modular homes will also be set up at two other locations in the city, part of a larger pilot project.

The rooms at the old Hippodrome are expected to open this summer.