Hundreds being housed: minister

Nearly 250 people have moved out of Winnipeg encampments under the Manitoba government’s Your Way Home strategy, which is more than 70 per cent of the NDP’s goal for its first term in office.

Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith told the Free Press Thursday the province has housed 249 people since launching the program in early 2025. The plan is to move 350 people from camps into housing during the government’s first term, which ends in October 2027, and 700 by the end of a second term, if it’s re-elected.

Smith said 85 per cent, or 211 people, remain in housing.

As for the others: “We don’t give up on people,” she said. “We continue to work with them, and when they’re ready to be housed, we will be there to ensure there is a pathway back.”

Smith said the province is on track to meet its first-term target despite Winnipeg’s worsening drug toxicity crisis.

“We’re focused on the individuals,” she said, noting that of a cohort of 26 people who moved into one building in the past few months, 16 have chosen treatment and recovery.

“(Service providers) are doing incredible work… in terms of making sure people are successfully tenanted, that they have some goals, that they’re moving in a direction, whether it be getting their kids back or getting into an employment program, or whether that’s just getting their mental health under control. A lot of these folks didn’t have access to primary health care and were unhoused for a very long time.”

Smith said the biggest obstacle remains the lack of adequate housing, which is paired with supports to ensure they can succeed.

“There just isn’t enough,” she said, adding more than 100 people are waiting for units.

“We know that housing is the first place for people to get stabilized,” she said. “Then we triage and figure out what their needs are.”

The minister’s update is the first in five weeks because of the communications blackout imposed during the The Pas-Kameesak byelection. The NDP handily won Tuesday’s vote.

The crisis has continued to deepen. End Homelessness Winnipeg estimated 8,248 people were homeless in March, including 4,463 who are considered chronically homeless, which is defined as being homeless for at least six months in the past year or repeatedly over several years.

The provincial strategy targets people who live in encampments. Main Street Project counted 227 people in encampments in June, though similar reports from other outreach agencies will push the total number higher.

Smith said 352 people have been moved directly from hospitals into Manitoba Housing units since the NDP took office in October 2023, which has helped to prevent patients from being discharged and immediately having no place to live.

The government is banking on increasing the housing supply. Last week it approved the retail housing construction incentive that offers tax credits of up to $8,500 per rental unit, plus $5,000 for affordable units built by non-profit organizations and private developers.

So far, the program has supported the construction of 151 market rental units and is projected to help deliver another 2,355 affordable housing units through $81.6 million in tax credits.

‘We’re all working in the same direction… to make sure Winnipeggers are supported. We all want the same outcome’–Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith

Smith said her government works with the City of Winnipeg to tackle the wide-scale problems of housing and addictions. She wouldn’t address criticism, made by residents of West Broadway, that the city has passed the buck to the province in terms of the response to the crisis.

“We’re all working in the same direction… to make sure Winnipeggers are supported,” she said. “We all want the same outcome.”

She pointed to provincial investments in overdose response, including a dedicated ambulance, additional funding for outreach organizations such as Siloam Mission and 1JustCity to expand hours and services, and keeping seasonal overnight shelter spaces open in the summer.

The province expects to fully open its first supervised consumption site next month after newly hired staff is trained.

“That is a pathway for people to build relationships, to get primary health care and to get an access point into treatment and recovery,” Smith said.

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The minister, who hadn’t commented on the Winnipeg Police Service’s recent 10-day drug enforcement operation, said there is “no tolerance” for criminal behaviour.

“But we need to make sure we’re not criminalizing trauma,” she said.

Asked whether Manitoba would consider a managed encampment while more housing is built, Smith echoed comments made by Premier Wab Kinew.

“We’re focused on building housing, and housing is our biggest barrier.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.