St. B property city hopes to sell a likely extreme-weather homeless shelter over winter

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This article was published 05/10/2023 (751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

St. Boniface Street Links appears set to return to a site where it previously helped vulnerable Winnipeggers escape the extreme cold, yet the outreach organization said it remains desperate to make the property its permanent home.

Street Links operated a pop-up shelter at 604 St. Mary’s Rd. on several of last winter’s coldest nights. The city confirms the organization is now very likely to offer 24-hour safe spaces at the same site by Dec. 1, as part of a broader extreme-weather response plan.

The head of Street Links is anxious to return to the site but says that date is too far off, since the temperature could plummet sooner and the organization is already experiencing high demand.

“If we can’t get into a building soon, I probably have to withdraw outreach because I can’t continue to cause this much stress to Morberg House,” said executive director Marion Willis.

Willis said her outreach staff operate out of the garage at Morberg House — the organization’s long-term recovery residence for men experiencing addiction, homelessness and mental-health challenges — which falls far short of the space they need.

The current plan would see the city offer 604 St. Mary’s as a temporary site without cancelling a previously approved effort to sell the property. Willis is urging the city to instead cancel a request for proposals that seeks bidders and give the property to her organization.

“Dec. 1 (is) way too late. We’re struggling right now with people swamped on the riverbank (in the rain)… I have no place to (put) them,” she said.

Willis said the site is ideal because it offers ample washroom space, parking, emergency vehicle access, offices and a large overall size.

The city’s chief administrative officer confirmed it is “very likely” Street Links will use the property this winter, though a final agreement has not been completed.

“We looked at a lot of options in the general area that (Street Links) serves and, in the end, this is the one that was going to make the most sense, particularly on an urgent basis,” Michael Jack told the Free Press.

Jack said the city doesn’t expect to cancel the RFP, since it also has a responsibility to taxpayers to get the best value from every civic property. He said Street Links and its partners could bid on it.

In July, Mayor Scott Gillingham said a key reason the city decided to sell the mostly vacant building is because it needs at least $1 million of foundation repairs.

Once a deal is finalized, Jack said Street Links could expect to use the site throughout the winter, since the RFP process is expected to take more than a year.

He said the city will try to give the organization access to the property as soon as possible.

“We’ll see what we can do to get (them) in there before Dec. 1,” he said.

The safe space is part of a broader plan to help vulnerable Winnipeggers during extreme weather. Council’s community services committee heard an update on the overall plan Thursday, for which council set aside $1 million in this year’s budget.

During the meeting, Jack told councillors the city is also close to finalizing a pilot project to help move vulnerable people from bus shelters to safe spaces. He said that plan will likely rely on space at Siloam Mission, along with resources from other agencies that serve homeless Winnipeggers.

The city also plans to add an alternate short-term temporary location, should another shelter or safe space suffer a building failure. That would rotate among locations based on the time of year and number of spaces needed. A report notes that site could include Salvation Army’s Weetamah location, Freight House Recreation Centre, Mayfair Recreation Centre and Sergeant Tommy Prince Place.

Grants to boost existing safe spaces will also be provided to Ka Ni Kanichihk’s Velma’s House, West End 24-Hour Safe Space (run by the Spence Neighbourhood Association) and N’Dinawemak.

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The city will also issue extreme-weather alerts whenever Environment Canada forecasts a temperature of -25 C or colder, or 30 C or warmer for two or more consecutive days.

Coun. Evan Duncan, chairman of the community services committee, welcomed the work done so far.

“We are going to have more options for people to be inside a building, (so) they are going to be safe when extreme weather events happen,” said Duncan.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne 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.