After more than a decade leading Welcome Hall Mission, one of Montreal’s largest non-profit organizations helping the vulnerable and unhoused, CEO Sam Watts has resisted all attempts to get him to run for office.

But with a Quebec election on the horizon in October and François Legault having left the premier’s office ahead of the vote, Watts has distilled his on-the-ground knowledge into a ready-made election platform addressing the twin housing affordability and homelessness crises.

It’s a first for Welcome Hall.

“I’m putting this out there for all of our parties and saying: ‘Look, what’s the harm in saying, it’s 2026, we need to step up because what used to be solidaire in the 1970s ain’t gonna work anymore,'” said Watts, who also sits on Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada’s tactical group on homelessness. “And so we need to find ways of adapting our Quebec approach to some of the realities that are emerging.”

The platform has three pillars and nine policy recommendations based on tried-and-true prevention measures that could potentially save more than $2 billion a year in health and social services costs.

The one thing that’s not in the eight-page document? A call for more emergency shelter beds.

“I think we need fewer because as long as we’re doing that, it’s going in the wrong direction,” Watts said. “The reality is shelters are a 19th-century solution and we’re really dealing with a 21st-century challenge, so we can do better.”

Instead, the strategy is based on recognizing safe, affordable housing as a key health determinant and........

© Montreal Gazette