To help prevent homelessness, First Stop offers front-line welcome and referral services for vulnerable persons when they arrive in the downtown area without any resources.

Based on the findings of a McGill University study on the lives of the homeless when they come to Montreal, three organizations (Le Bon Dieu dans la rue, Passages and the Downtown Y centre) joined forces to find ways to help prevent homelessness in the downtown area, and in 1999 this led to the creation of First Stop.

Operating at Montreal's Central Bus Station, social workers from the First Stop program are available six days a week, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Two social workers are on-site at all times. They provide help to more than 800 persons a year and make more than 200 referrals to 75 different organizations throughout Montreal and in Québec.

A number of problems never seem to go away, such as begging, trafficking of stolen goods and drugs, recruitment of youth and more vulnerable women for criminal purposes, as well as migration between cities and provinces within Canada. The demands for education and employment services and social information have grown. The need for housing and health care services has also risen.

First Stop has set up an ongoing, preferential collaboration with the Avant-garde security firm at Montreal's Central Bus Station, which identifies and refers 70% of those in need of help. First Stop plays a vital role in preventing homelessness by working together with over 450 different resources in various fields (for example: CLSC, Auberges du cœur, employment centres, homeless shelters, Urgence psychosociale Justice, Clinique juridique du RAPSIM, and the police at Station #21).

For more information, please contact Mélanie Richer at the Downtown Y centre,
514 849-8393 ext. 783.