On October 1, 2024, the International Day of Older Persons, we launched Ancrâge, a new prevention program for seniors aged 50 or over who are at imminent risk of homelessness. Unfortunately, the number of seniors living on the streets of Montreal has increased by 33% over the past four years. It was therefore imperative to use our social brokerage approach to help these clients, who have specific needs.

Rehousing them is more challenging as they are more vulnerable due to impaired physical health, cognitive decline, financial insecurity and ageism. The Ancrâge program identifies seniors at imminent risk of homelessness and works to rehouse them in the Old Brewery Mission’s network or through its partners. We estimate that Ancrâge will prevent at least 750 seniors from becoming homeless over the next five years.

The Old Brewery Mission’s Prevention Service distinguished itself in the community sector during the year through its many contributions as an expert on homelessness prevention. The Passerelle and Porte-clés programs, conducted in collaboration with the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal (OMHM), were presented at the National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Ottawa, October 29-31, 2024, and at the 17th Rendez-vous de l’habitation organized by the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) on November 13, 2024. About a month later, on December 12, 2024, the Prevention team presented the rationale for the Ancrâge program at a luncheon talk organized by the Centre de recherche de Montréal sur les inégalités sociales, les discriminations et les pratiques alternatives de citoyenneté (CREMIS). On February 19, 2025, they attended the first Symposium Finances personnelles et vulnérabilités face aux crises, organized by the Union des consommateurs, raising awareness of the need to review public policy related to the housing crisis.

The Old Brewery Mission’s mobile clinic continued to play a vital role, providing an essential service by reaching out to people in public spaces. In its second year of operation, it carried out nearly 8,000 interventions!

The complete overhaul of our emergency facilities, begun in 2023, is now complete. There are no more dorms, only private and semi-private rooms. After the Patricia Mackenzie Pavilion, it was the Webster Pavilion’s turn to undergo major renovations to provide our clients with greater privacy and dignity. The completion of the work was celebrated with a press conference in November 2024, which also marked the start of our 135th anniversary festivities.

During 2024-25, our Research Department, led by Hannah Brais (Ph.D. candidate, Geography), gave talks on homelessness-related topics, including rent banking, at the États généraux de l’itinérance in Quebec City and the International Medical Geography Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia. The team also presented model spaces of care for people experiencing homelessness who have substance abuse issues at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting and at the National Congress on Housing and Homelessness in Fredericton. Our research team published several articles in scholarly journals:

• “Shelter in place: Neighborhood policing of homelessness in Montreal, Canada,” in Urban Geography
• “Adapting homelessness interventions for people who use drugs or alcohol in Montreal, Quebec: Service user perspectives,” in Health and Social Care in the Community
• “Towards a ‘trauma-informed spaces of care’ model: The example of services for homeless substance users,” in Progress in Human Geography

We proudly commemorated 135 years of change, spreading our image across the city with 40 banners in neighbourhoods near our Saint-Laurent Campus and posters for our 135th advertising campaign in key locations. Our anniversary was a reminder of the need to continue developing services for vulnerable populations, as homelessness is as prevalent as ever and indeed increasing.

The advertising campaign for the 2024-25 season made a lasting impression with key messages that were relevant, topical and linked directly to the locations where the ads were placed. To complement the out-of-home campaign, a digital campaign including visuals and the manifesto / video was also conducted to reach the widest possible audience.

Homelessness was a hot topic in the news throughout the year, and the media often sought our expert opinion. Our many spokespersons offered points of view on a variety of subjects, both clinical and more general, lending us a prominent media presence throughout the year. In all, we responded to 296 interview requests and garnered almost 1700 mentions in both English- and French-language media.

Over the course of the year, we also published 5 op-eds in the media on subjects of importance to us: the housing crisis, the aging of the unhoused population, temporary versus permanent solutions (particularly in periods of extreme cold), encampments and coexistence, and the Administrative Housing Tribunal’s rent increase guideline.

With the increase in the number of women experiencing homelessness, the Gala Mission pour Elles took on added significance. Two hundred and forty people attended the event on May 29, 2024 and $260,830 was raised to help the Old Brewery Mission continue supporting women experiencing homelessness or in precarious situations along the path to lasting reaffiliation.

With the increase in the number of women experiencing homelessness, the Gala Mission pour Elles took on added significance. Two hundred and forty people attended the event on May 29, 2024 and $260,830 was raised to help the Old Brewery Mission continue supporting women experiencing homelessness or in precarious situations along the path to lasting reaffiliation.