Proposed bylaw change concerns group planning to build homeless shelter

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This article was published 18/02/2025 (231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A volunteer group that has spent nearly two years working to create transitional housing for Steinbach’s homeless population fears opponents are pressuring politicians to pull the rug out from under the project.

Leona Doerksen, founder and board chair of The INN (Initiative for Neighbourly Nights Inc.) said the southeastern community’s council has suddenly proposed a new zoning bylaw that includes a category of buildings called emergency shelters.

The surprise proposal comes after the group’s purchase last year of a lot on which to build a planned $1.35-million facility, intended to help as many as 30 people at a time in 12 bedrooms at the east end of Steinbach’s Main Street.

Doerksen said if the bylaw is eventually approved, the group would have to apply for a conditional use permit, go through the public hearing process and councillors would vote on it before beginning construction.

“When purchased for The Inn, the lot was zoned so that our intended use was permitted,” she said Friday. “So this is a change after the fact. If the conditions were concerns around noise, pollution, increased traffic, site line disruptions, building aesthetics, etc., we could understand the need for changing the permit status, however these are not the concerns.

“It’s the image of having a shelter on Main Street that seems to be the biggest concern.”

She said the not-in-my-backyard response from some is standard in any community where “supportive-type housing” is needed.

Doerksen said the property isn’t in the main area of the city’s major street for shopping and services, but at the far east end near a Mennonite Central Committee thrift shop. She said there are no nearby schools.

Other properties the group looked at cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more, she said.

The group, which has been approved as a registered charity by the Canada Revenue Agency, has raised $100,000 and has pledges for another $120,000 Doerksen said, adding it has asked the province to provide funding for operational and staff costs, lined up a builder and created drawings of what the facility will look like.

If all of the necessary funding was already in place, construction could begin, she said. The reality is that it’s not and the proposed bylaw could be an obstacle.

“Regardless of where we would build, there will always be some NIMBY pushback,” she said, adding volunteers have gone door to door in the neighbourhood twice to offer updates on the project’s progress.

“If the city council base their decisions on neighbours’ fears, we will continually be denied a permit to build. This could set the project back for years. We are hopeful that (council) will do what is best in the interest of the most needy people in our community.”

Doerksen estimated that there are about 60 homeless people in the community.

Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk denies the proposed bylaw is intended to stop the organization from building the homeless shelter.

He said he’s heard from people with strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

“There are a lot of supporters for it and a lot of people with questions and they’re not getting the answers at this time,” the mayor said. “We want it so there can be a public hearing so the neighbourhood can be informed… I want to be transparent.

“At least the public can be heard and maybe then the public would be OK with it… I don’t want anyone to feel slighted or blindsided.”

Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, said her organization has received some pushback in the past when setting up facilities to help the homeless, but it hasn’t had any issues since opening its year-old temporary shelter space on St. Mary’s Road.

“It is surprising and disappointing to hear they could be faced with these types of worries, especially from a Christian community with a message to always help your brother,” Willis said. “Sometimes fear overrules good judgment.

“When there is a place for people to go to, the evidence is a lot of the social issues people are concerned about go down.”

Eduardo Aquino, an architecture professor at the University of Manitoba who works on housing issues for the homeless, commends the group for its efforts to address a problem in the community.

“This group in Steinbach is doing the right thing, because that’s the first step to resolve the homeless situation — housing first,” Aquino said.

“If city officials are trying to use regulations to delay a process, they are not serving the cause. They are actually obstructing the cause… housing first is the first step to ending the problem. This has been proven.

“The community group in Steinbach has their hearts and mandate in the right place.”

A provincial government spokesman said it is reviewing the project, adding it has support available for shelter services through the Housing Starts Here program.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca