‘Like you’re walking through somebody’s living room, someone’s kitchen’ Longtime Point Douglas resident blames governments, not homeless camp occupants, for deteriorating, 'unsafe' situation along waterfront By: Scott Billeck Posted: 5:38 PM CDT Monday, May. 26, 2025

Howard Warren always keeps water bottles by his front door — just in case someone in need passes by. In Point Douglas, where homeless encampments dot the brush along the Red River, it’s not a rare occurrence.

But a few years ago, his gesture of compassion was quickly met with violence.

After hearing someone rummaging through his vehicle one day, Warren thought to grab some water. Moments later, he was chasing a man into a nearby alley — where he was met with a gun and a brutal beating.

“For the past six or seven years, we’ve felt unsafe to leave our houses at night, to go for walks down at the river,” he said. “We’ve lost our ability to recreationally enjoy the trails down by the river because we feel like we’re intruding upon, like you’re walking through somebody’s living room, someone’s kitchen.”

Now, as Warren walks a familiar bike path along the river, nearly every turn is tied to a memory: discovering a body stuffed in a garden cart and covered with a tarp, confronting people in crisis, scrubbing graffiti off his fence more times than he can count.

Still, Warren says his frustration isn’t aimed at the people who are homeless — it’s at governments that have failed to respond meaningfully.

Last Tuesday, Warren watched on his security camera as a Main Street Project van delivered supplies to a nearby encampment, as they often do.

“I just thought it was just another trip of supplies, water and whatnot to folks living down by the river,” he said. “Instead, there were tents and suitcases.”

“We’ve lost our ability to recreationally enjoy the trails down by the river because we feel like we’re intruding upon, like you’re walking through somebody’s living room, someone’s kitchen.”–Howard Warren

He shared what he saw — also viewed by the Free Press Monday — with the Point Douglas Residents Committee.

“I was curious,” he said. “I legitimately did not know if it was in the purview of their mandate (to be helping set up an encampment).”

The committee sent a letter to MSP, copying Premier Wab Kinew, Mayor Scott Gillingham, End Homelessness Winnipeg, the United Way and the Winnipeg Foundation, looking for answers.

Few have followed.

Warren said MSP staff told him last Wednesday the move was prompted by flooding risks at another camp.

But when he asked why the relocation was to Point Douglas, there was no explanation, he said.

“Why are we the first choice?” Warren said.

He and his partner have lived in the neighbourhood for 16 years. Their house, built in 1909, relies on open windows to stay cool during humid summer nights.

“Some of the things we hear are frightening,” he said. “Fires happen every summer.”

As he walks the trails, Warren points out former and current encampment sites. Some spots are reduced to flattened brush and discarded garbage — needle packaging, shopping carts, the remains of stripped copper and aluminum cables. In one area, an old boat launch is littered with rebar and scorched rock from makeshift fires.

“We’ve helped folks, we’ve had folks in our house, give them something to eat, let them shower, hear their stories.”–Howard Warren

Warren feels there’s a misconception about community members, that they’re uncaring and don’t want the problem in their backyards any longer.

“We’ve helped folks, we’ve had folks in our house, give them something to eat, let them shower, hear their stories,” Warren said. “I’ve administered first aid to I don’t know how many people.

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“Everybody here really gives a s—t. We give a s—t about the folks living rough down by the river in conditions they shouldn’t have to live in because we live in the country that we do. Why is this going on?”

Since sharing the footage, Warren has received messages from concerned Winnipeggers and even people abroad.

“I was a little leery of approaching the media at all, but I think it’s important,” he said, adding that he hopes the story finally brings visibility — and urgency — to a crisis that continues to linger in the shadows.

“Point Douglas is beautiful,” he said. “But we’re so exhausted, and I’d even used the word ‘traumatized’ in the way that we feel about what happens here.”

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.