![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770210187_509_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDarin Luckie said it was a combination of drugs, alcohol and the COVID-19 pandemic that led to his life falling apart, finding himself without a home in Montreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expected to recover in a couple months. A couple months turned into a year. And a year turned into four,\u201d he said. “Then you\u2019re like, \u2018It\u2019s \u201330 outside and I don\u2019t want to do this no more,'” he said.<\/p>\n
A Montreal health agency has now teamed up with the YMCA to launch a three-month transitional housing pilot project that helps people like Luckie \u2014 providing a safe, private-room alternative for people experiencing homelessness after a hospital discharge.<\/p>\n
People experiencing homelessness struggle to recover from illness or injury when discharged from emergency, said Catherine Roberge, who is the chief of program administration, addiction and homelessness with the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’\u00cele-de-Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a big flux of people without an address coming in for care and coming back often to the ER,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In a news release, the CIUSSS calls the program \u201cA Pathway to Recovery.\u201d Located at the YMCA Tupper site, which previously housed hundreds of asylum seekers, the project offers 48 private rooms \u2014 including units for couples \u2014 to patients discharged from the Jewish General Hospital or Montreal General Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But an outreach team is also in contact with patients from other hospitals as well as officials looking to fill the space quickly as the program, launched in mid-January, gets off the ground, said Roberge, noting it will help reduce the strain on hospitals as well as the patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s such a big rotation between ERs,\u201d she said. \u201cA simple wound, while experiencing homelessness at the same time, can be very difficult to recover from.\u201d<\/p>\n
WATCH | Montreal health agency offers place to stay:<\/p>\n
Many homeless people return to the ER after being discharged. This program hopes to change that<\/p>\n
A new pilot project at the Tupper YMCA in Westmount, Que., aims to fundamentally change what happens when patients experiencing homelessness are discharged from the hospital by offering them temporary housing.<\/p>\n
Often in those cases, hospitals will push for a longer stay or even a long-term care home for recovery which is less-than-ideal for a younger patient, she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But in this new space, the patients will have more autonomy, she said. They are connected to clinical services, case management and housing support. They can go to the CLSC for follow-up care and return to their private room, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Increase in patients experiencing homelessness<\/p>\n
Priority is currently given to referrals from the Jewish General, where the number of patients experiencing homelessness increased from 149 in 2022\u201323 to 339 in 2024\u201325, the CIUSSS says.<\/p>\n
The site is currently at 58 per cent occupancy. The\u00a0YMCA manages the building and psychosocial team, while the CIUSSS provides on-site nurses, social workers and addiction liaison workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roberge said the aim is to provide care to those who have substance addiction, signs of dementia, mental illness, mobility impairment and other issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770210188_710_default.jpg\")
A Pathway to Recovery provides a range of services and care to patients, including help finding housing. (Ivanoh Demers\/Radio-Canada )<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very diverse,\u201d she said, noting they offer three meals a day as well as case workers to help find housing. \u201cSome are very eager to look for housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike conventional dormitory-style shelters, this model provides embedded clinical teams integrated with hospital programs and allows stays up to 45 days \u2014 longer than most winter shelters.<\/p>\n
The pilot was made possible by a temporary decline in demand for asylum seeker housing, though the site maintains the ability to reactivate beds as part of the immigration program, Programme r\u00e9gional d\u2019accueil et d\u2019int\u00e9gration des demandeurs d\u2019asile (PRAIDA), within 45 days if required, the health agency says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upon completion, the project will be formally evaluated based on various criteria such as reduced emergency department return within 45 days and user satisfaction, the news release says.<\/p>\n
‘We’re treated like rodents’<\/p>\n
As for Luckie, who has been on the streets since August 2022, he said it\u2019s been rough, despite efforts like rehabilitation, to get himself back on track.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re treated like rodents. We can\u2019t make money. We\u2019re stuck in a cycle,\u201d he said. \u201cThey treat us like crap, but then where do you want us to go?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770210188_822_default.jpg\")
Darin Luckie sits on a bed in his room where, he says, he is able to keep his belongings safely \u2014 a big change from living on the streets of Montreal. (Ivanoh Demers\/Radio-Canada )<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, he wants to break the cycle and have a key to his own apartment so he can get a phone and a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody says get a job, but you need the phone first,\u201d Luckie said. \u201cYou can\u2019t go to work in the same clothes for a week.\u201d <\/p>\n
Staying at A Pathway to Recovery has helped, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI shower, I shave, I take care of myself,\u201d Luckie said. \u201cI buy clothes. I bought a tablet. I can go to my room and know my tablet is safe. That\u2019s a big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darin Luckie said it was a combination of drugs, alcohol and the COVID-19 pandemic that led to his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-453318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}