Ending homelessness by 2031: Blaikie Whitecloud says it’s possible — if Manitobans work together

If Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud had her way, she would be in a swimming pool almost every day.

The former head of Siloam Mission may be the province’s senior advisor on ending homelessness, but it’s not her dream job, she said.

“I really loved teaching aquacize,” Blaikie Whitecloud said. “It’s what I did in university. It was the best job I’ve ever had.”

If leading people in water aerobics was plan A, Blaikie Whitecloud chose plan B — working to house the unhoused — because she dreams of a world where chronic homelessness no longer exists.

“Homelessness should be brief and (nonrecurring) but it isn’t,” she said. “So I feel compelled to work towards that solution.”

Blaikie Whitecloud shared these words during a keynote address at the Jubilee Fund’s annual champagne brunch at the Leaf on Saturday. The event marked the 25th anniversary of the charitable ethical investment group, which helps non-profits working to reduce the impact of poverty.

Blaikie Whitecloud mentioned Jeremiah 29:7, a favourite Bible verse of her late father, the United Church minister turned NDP MP Bill Blaikie. It reads in part, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you.”

For Blaikie Whitecloud, Winnipeg’s welfare is tied to the citizens who are struggling the most. There are 2,500 people experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg right now, she said, with another 4,500 unhoused people in other parts of the province.

Homelessness impacts people of all ages, including youths who have aged out of care and seniors priced out of their housing due to fixed incomes, Blaikie Whitecloud said. LGBTTQ+ people are overrepresented in the homeless population due to the discrimination they face, and Indigenous people are overrepresented because of the colonial impacts of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and other systems of oppression.

There is not enough housing in Winnipeg for any type of population, she noted, but there is especially a lack of housing designed to support low-income tenants.

Blaikie Whitecloud delved into “Your Way Home,” the provincial government’s plan to end chronic homelessness by 2031. Since Premier Wab Kinew announced the initiative in January, 89 people have been successfully housed, Blaikie Whitecloud said, and there are plans to move 70 more people into housing in the coming weeks.

The key is consulting people who are experiencing homelessness and giving them a say in the solution, she said.

“There’s this myth that people experiencing encampment life don’t want housing, but that is not at all our experience in ‘Your Way Home,’” Blaikie Whitecloud said.

Solving chronic homelessness is possible, she concluded.

“It will take all of us together,” she said. “It requires that everyone at the table is holding a shared vision… Because we can and we must do better.”

During Peter Cantelon’s remarks, the Jubilee Fund executive director described the roughly 185 people in attendance as “an incredibly weird group of people.”

“You’ve got people in finance, you’ve got people on the front line of social services, you’ve got people in the middle, you’ve got donors and investors — you’ve got all kinds of different people who often don’t cross paths but should,” Cantelon said.

Bringing people from different backgrounds together is one of the reasons the champagne brunch exists, Cantelon told the Free Press after the event.

“It’s such a wide range of people but when they all come together it increases the ability to do what we’re trying to do, which is poverty reduction in Manitoba,” he said.

The Jubilee Fund launched in 2000 when a number of faith communities came together to address issues of homelessness and poverty in the keystone province.

According to a November 2024 impact report, the charity contributed more than $3.3 million from 2014 to 2024 to organizations and projects through either direct lending or loan guarantees. Funded projects were able to access more than $41 million in financing from other sources during that same period.

In the past 18 months, the organization has been focused on its rent guarantee program, Cantelon said.

The program is intended for at-risk women, previously incarcerated individuals, youth coming out of care and newcomers who have the proven capacity to make full rent payments but are facing the barrier of a lack of rental history.

Jubilee Fund acts as a guarantor for one year for successful applicants.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca