Montreal promises new approach to homeless with encampment ‘tolerance zones’

The City of Montreal is changing its approach to unhoused people, promising to tolerate some homeless encampments instead of dismantling them.

Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada unveiled the city’s new protocol on Friday, saying camps are not a long-term solution, but dismantling them often causes trauma for vulnerable people and usually results in displacing the problem.

“Dismantling as we have seen in the past does not work,” Martinez Ferrada said.

“You are not creating a path or a road map out of homelessness.”

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The city said its new policy creates “tolerance zones” on city-owned land, where encampments would be permitted if they meet certain safety rules. The framework focuses on dignity and respect for the rights for those experiencing homelessness.

“Ultimately, we agree that the road map is to get people out of the camps,” Martinez Ferrada said. “But building transitional housing and emergency shelters takes time.”

Instead of dismantling an encampment, the city says it would relocate a camp in the event of a security or nuisance issue.

“We have a humanitarian crisis on our hands, we must be tolerant, but we must be tolerant within a framework that also respects the real security issues of local residents,” Martinez Ferrada said.

“We need to give ourselves time to resolve an issue (homelessness) for which we have no magic wand.”

Montreal’s new plan takes some inspiration from more elaborate rules in Longueuil, Que., on the South Shore, where encampments are limited to five tents and prohibited from being within 250 metres of a school, daycare, seniors residence or women’s shelter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2026.