Montreal's Metro struggles to cope with growing homelessness crisis

As the evening cold set in, Lindy Trapper and three friends spread a blanket on a platform overlooking the tracks at Villa-Maria Metro, in Montreal's west end.

Soon after, two intervention workers told them to leave. They were escorted up to the subway entrance, but without any clear options, stayed inside.

"I hang around in the Metro until it closes, and then I have to look for somewhere to sleep," said Trapper, a Cree man from Mistissini, Que.

When the Metro does close, Trapper said he often spends the night in a storefront entrance, where he can escape the worst of the wind. In the morning, he returns to the Metro.

Similar situations are unfolding across the subway system, where people without a place to stay seek reprieve from the cold and snow.

Reports of disturbances in the Metro system, drug usage and concerns from riders about their safety have all surged since the pandemic.

During a round of consultations on homelessness last week, Société de transport de Montréal (STM) chair Éric Caldwell expressed alarm over the growing problems in the Metro, saying it has become the "overflow unit for the most vulnerable people who fall through the cracks of the social safety net."

At the same time, he said, the sense of security among public transit users is in sharp decline, making for an "untenable" situation. In a January survey, nearly half of riders said they felt unsafe.

"It can't continue like this," Caldwell told the city's homelessness consultations. "We need to stop considering the Metro as a last-resort shelter."

Overdoses in the Metro are also up, more than doubling from 22 in 2023 to 47 in 2024. There were 12 in the first month of January.

"We want to maintain an environment of respect, and it's really hard because sometimes we are close to losing control between the different types of clients between drug users and homeless people," Jocelyn Latulippe, the STM's director of security, told CBC News recently.

"We need to have more support."

Last year, STM workers removed more than 12,000 people from the Metro at the end of the night. Latulippe said they try to find those people a shelter, but there isn't always space.

Montreal, like many other Canadian cities, has seen a dramatic rise in homelessness since the pandemic. Between 2018 and 2022, the number of people experiencing homelessness across the province doubled to roughly 10,000.