End Homelessness Winnipeg’s target goal date ‘will need to be revisited’

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This article was published 12/10/2023 (737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

End Homelessness Winnipeg is experiencing mixed results amid its current five-year strategy, while suggesting a resource boost and more ambitious targets are needed.

The registered charitable organization’s latest annual report assesses its progress on key targets in its plan to end homelessness in the Manitoba capital by 2025 — an overriding goal it acknowledges won’t be met.

“That date will need to be revisited. There will need to be an extension of our plan and a refinement of our strategy,” chief executive officer Jason Whitford said in an interview Thursday.

Tangible, smaller scale goals have had mixed results so far.

A target to house 1,519 people, who are experiencing “absolute homelessness” or are “provisionally housed” by 2025 was greatly exceeded, assisting 2,695 people.

By contrast, an EHW goal to create 1,340 affordable/supportive housing units by 2025 has led 479 new units to be created, with 370 more in development. Hundreds more would still be needed by 2025 to achieve the target.

Whitford said progress has been made on some key goals, but he would not refer to the plan as a success per se, deeming the targets themselves to be too low when compared to the current level of need.

“I would say we should look at the factors that led to those achievements (in housing people) and how we can amplify those numbers. These were targets set five years ago, pre-(COVID-19) pandemic, and these probably didn’t take into account the cost of inflation due to world events, as well as the drug crisis that’s impacted our community and many others,” he said.

Whitford said those factors have led a growing number of people to become homeless over the last few years, creating a demand that outweighs available housing.

The EHW report notes a 2022 Winnipeg Street Census found at least 1,256 people were experiencing homelessness. However, Whitford said that number is believed to greatly underestimate the true scope of the issue.

“I think there’s variances that don’t factor in (including) those that are precariously housed, those that are in substandard housing, or those that are couch surfing… There are far more (people in need).”

Whitford said Winnipeg needs to increase its local housing supply by at least 300 to 400 units per year and prevent the loss of affordable homes due to fires, building closures and privatization.

“The challenge, across all areas, is an adequate supply of housing in our city,” he said.

Whitford said he expects EHW will require more funding to better assist unsheltered Winnipeggers and cover inflationary costs but stopped short of making a specific grant request for the City of Winnipeg.

The city’s 2020-23 multi-year budget included a $150,000 annual grant for EHW.

Mayor Scott Gillingham, who is seeking a unified plan to tackle homelessness that includes the provincial and municipal governments, as well as social service agencies, said there is clearly more work to be done.

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“People who visit our downtown, that work in our downtown, that live in our downtown… all would indicate that we need to do something different… (Social service) agencies are doing some good work (but) we need better co-ordination,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said he’s most concerned with setting step-by-step targets to address homelessness than a deadline year for it to be eliminated, as was done in the past.

“There’s too many people living on the street. Therefore, we need to do something different,” said Gillingham, adding it’s too soon to say if the city would increase its annual funding for EHW.

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.