Fifty-nine people moved out of tents and into homes

The province has moved 59 people from encampments to housing as it works on a strategy to find shelter for an estimated 700 Manitobans who live in encampments.

“They’re taking pride and flourishing,” Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said Friday of the people who have been housed. “We want to make sure everyone gets the proper support and they’re successful.”

Since the government’s strategy Your Way Home was announced in January, 53 of the 59 former tent residents have moved into social housing. Six live in private rentals, a spokesman for the minister said.

In March, the federal-provincial welfare top-up program to help those living in encampments afford market rents stopped accepting new applications.

In May, the province announced 67 new social housing units, all of which are occupied, Smith said Friday.

As expected, encampments have expanded during the summer, prompting neighbours and Winnipeg city councillors to express concern about health and safety concerns — for residents in and near the tent villages, and motorists who drive by them.

“This is what happens when you normalize this type of living in tent encampments” said Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links.

“In the past, people seeking resources looked for someone to house them. Now they’re told ‘come and join us,” she said Friday.

“We’ve normalized an incredible level of social dysfunction,” Willis said.

On Friday, Coun. Ross Eadie, whose Mynarski ward is home to several encampments, released a letter he had written to Smith, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham and one of his constituents who’s asked officials to address the “crime” and “chaos” from encampments.

“Your Way Home has the policy of providing 24/7 support for those getting out of encampments,” Eadie wrote. “Well, we need 24/7 support for the residents living near encampments.”

Smith said nicer weather draws more people to tent living, but the province is working with the city, the federal government, community partners and private landlords to “get people into housing that’s a more desirable place for them.”

“We are doing everything we can to bring as many units online as possible, and we believe the province is also working to bring every possible housing unit online as quickly as they can.”–Jamil Mahmood

The head of Main Street Project, which received the only contract from the city to move people from tents to housing, said many more units are needed — and quickly.

“We are doing everything we can to bring as many units online as possible, and we believe the province is also working to bring every possible housing unit online as quickly as they can,” executive director Jamil Mahmood said in a statement Friday.

Main Street Project hopes to have another 12 social housing units available in the next two weeks that can house 15 to 20 people from encampments, he said. “The social housing being brought online has all the supports needed for people to be successful,” Mahmood said.

The non-profit organization is concerned about those in private rentals relying on rent top-ups becoming at risk for homelessness again, he said. “The rent top-up highlights how the private sector cannot fill this gap, and the need for more funded social housing is key to addressing this housing crisis,” Mahmood said.

Two years ago while campaigning to become premier, Wab Kinew said it was not “realistic” to rely on social housing alone to end chronic homelessness — that the province needs to work with the private sector and landlords to move people out of bus shelters and tents into housing.

“The premier was right on the mark,” said Willis with Street Links, which relies on private rental units to move their clients from tents to apartments.

Even without the federal-provincial rent subsidy, Street Links has housed 28 people so far this month in private rentals, she said.

On Friday, they were in the process of housing a couple — a pregnant woman and her partner — who had been living in a tent in the West End. They had been receiving food and water from outreach workers who suggested they get on the social housing wait list.

“It’s more efficient to work with people in a housed situation than an unhoused situation,” said Willis. Low-barrier housing with some stability and security is better than no housing, she said

“You’re in a house that has heat, with a toilet and fridge and stove,” she said. “A terrible place to live is a dirty encampment on the riverbank.”

On Thursday, Kinew said that when his government took office, it was constrained by the lack of housing units after the former government sold some of its housing stock. He said they’re in the process of building and restoring social housing units and helping those estimated 700 Manitobans move from tents to homes.

“We’re working hard,” said Kinew, who credited city and non-profit partners for working together. “We’re all on the same page,” he said.

“It’s just going to take years of consistent effort to get to that 700 number. When we first committed to this, we said it would take eight years. We’re two years in. If we maintain this pace, I think we’ll get to where we need to go,” the premier said.

— with files from the Brandon Sun

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

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