Documenting the spatial and housing trajectories of homeless migrants in Montreal

Download the full report here.

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This research project examines a growing but still insufficiently understood dimension of Canada’s housing crisis: migrant homelessness in Montreal. Led by Liquid Space Lab with support from CMHC’s National Housing Strategy Research and Planning Fund, the study combines literature review, statistical analysis, and qualitative fieldwork, including interviews with service providers and migrants experiencing homelessness. It adopts a broad definition of homelessness that includes both visible and hidden forms, capturing experiences such as temporary accommodation, overcrowding, and unstable informal arrangements. The project aims to better understand how migrants navigate housing systems and urban space, and how existing institutional frameworks respond to their needs.

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The findings show that migrant homelessness is best understood not as the result of isolated individual crises, but as an outcome of systemic and institutional misalignments. Barriers related to immigration status, administrative delays, limited access to employment, and exclusion from the private rental market interact to produce prolonged housing instability. Many migrants experience a lack of residential anchoring upon arrival, followed by trajectories characterized by mobility across temporary, informal, and often precarious housing situations. These dynamics challenge conventional models of homelessness that are primarily based on rupture and visible deprivation.

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A key contribution of the study is to demonstrate that existing homelessness and settlement systems, while adaptive, remain fragmented and only partially aligned with migrant realities. Organizations have adjusted their practices, shelters increasingly accommodate migrants, and settlement agencies have expanded into housing support, but these responses remain largely reactive. The research highlights the importance of early intervention, improved service coordination, and better alignment between immigration processes, housing markets, and social services. It also underscores the need to better capture hidden homelessness, which remains underrepresented in current data systems.

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The report provides a set of policy-relevant insights and recommendations to inform housing and settlement strategies at municipal, provincial, and federal levels. These include strengthening entry and referral systems, expanding transitional housing pathways, improving multilingual housing navigation tools, and addressing structural barriers in the private rental market. More broadly, the study positions migrant homelessness as an indicator of systemic stress within housing and reception systems. Addressing it effectively can contribute to more inclusive, resilient, and better coordinated housing policies in Canada.