Manitoba’s rent top-up program runs dry a second time

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This article was published 05/03/2025 (234 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP government has — for the second time — halted a rent top-up benefit for the homeless weeks after touting a sweeping plan it vowed would get people off the streets.

A federal-provincial program to help homeless people secure housing has been paused after it ran out of money, for the second time in seven months.

“Due to the exhaustion of federal funds, application intake is now closed,” the province posted on its website.

Applications for the Canada-Manitoba Housing Benefit homelessness stream that weren’t approved before March 3 won’t be processed, it said. The rent top-up program allowed people who live in shelters and encampments to afford an apartment.

“We are disappointed and frustrated by this news as it will have a very large impact on low-income Manitobans that are in the rental housing market,” Codi Guenther, executive director of New Journey Housing, said Wednesday.

“We do not understand why the benefit had to end so abruptly – especially when many applicants were waiting and depending on (it) to afford their rents,” said Guenther, who found out about the problem Tuesday.

“Now, these households will be even more in jeopardy since the benefit they thought they would get, is no longer coming,” Guenther said.

The monthly top-up, worth as much as $422 per month for a private apartment, was put on a temporary hold Aug. 2 due to high demand. In early September, non-profit housing organizations were notified about the “temporary pause” of new intakes.

Housing Minister Bernadette Smith apologized for not immediately informing non-profit organizations and housing advocates about the pause.

In late September, Smith announced the province would spend $1.2 million to restore the program that had a budget of $8.64 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

On Wednesday, the minister said the province contributed nearly $2 million extra to the program to house 500 people.

This week, housing advocates and non-profit groups found out the fund had again run dry and new applicants who hadn’t been approved as of March 3 are out of luck.

“We have many single newcomer clients that have a rental budget of $638 from EIA (employment and income assistance),” said Guenther.

The benefit allowed them to rent a place for more than $900 a month, she said. “Now, that is no longer an option and they’ll have to look for something closer to $638 – which is nearly impossible to find,” she said.

Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, said they found housing for 30 people in February, some of whom are waiting for rent top-up applications to be approved and may be evicted if they can’t afford their rent.

“We really need to take a critical look at the whole EIA system and find out if there isn’t a better way,” she said.

The unreliability of funding will prompt private landlords to be less willing to rent to low-income Manitobans, Guenther said.

“They, too, cannot rely on unstable rent top-ups. Landlords already are hesitant to rent to low-income folks,” she said.

Non-profit groups are “scrambling” to find housing for people, said Shauna MacKinnon, who is with the Right to Housing Coalition.

“My mandate is to ensure that people aren’t becoming homeless.”–Minister Bernadette Smith

“We’ve got these people who didn’t make the deadline but they’ve already put in their applications… They’re going to have to be looking now for places to live, to help folks find alternative housing,” she said. “It just seems crazy to me.”

Smith said renters who are already approved for the benefit will continue to receive funding and that provincial Rent Assist, rent relief loans and the rental tax credit are still available.

“We are connecting those folks that were in line that won’t unfortunately get this benefit with those provincially funded programs,” she said Wednesday.

“My mandate is to ensure that people aren’t becoming homeless.”

The minister said 300 additional social housing units will be available in Winnipeg as part of the goal to move people from encampments into permanent shelter.

When asked during question period about the federal-provincial, cost-matched program not being able to take more applications, Smith said the province has been “working hard” to get the federal government to increase funding.

“The federal government hasn’t come to the table,” Smith said.

Progressive Conservative housing critic Carrie Hiebert asked when the NDP will fund the program properly. “How many more Manitobans are at risk of becoming homeless?”

Smith scoffed at the question and accused the PCs of ignoring the homeless when they were in government. “They’re trying to act like they care about folks unhoused now?”

When the homelessness program launched in 2020, it was “under-subscribed,” just 570 Manitobans received it in December 2022.

In 2023, as the homeless population increased and the election was set for October, the PCs increased the maximum top-up available to $350 from $250, plus $72 a month for utilities. In June 2023, 923 people subscribed to the monthly benefit. A year later, 3,088 Manitobans were receiving it.

When the NDP formed government in late 2023, the party told organizations about the benefit being available so they could help to secure housing for more people, Smith has said. The demand ballooned.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca