City’s budget for next homeless outreach provider inadequate, agencies say

The City of Winnipeg is seeking its next homeless outreach provider but two key organizations fear the budget for the work falls far short of what’s needed.

The city set aside $387,275 for the 24-hour mobile outreach support contract, which could be split to offer $96,820 for outreach east of the Red River and $290,455 for outreach west of the river, a request for proposals notes.

“The money in there is grossly inadequate,” said Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links.

Willis estimates $96,820 for outreach east of the Red, which her organization has long provided, would fund 2.5 workers. She said that’s too few to provide round-the-clock service, noting her annual outreach budget is nearly $500,000.

Willis believes the city should withdraw and replace the RFP.

And she fears her organization wouldn’t qualify for the work, due to security clearance requirements tied to the contract, which people with past criminal involvement would not pass.

“All the members on (our) street reach team are people themselves that were formerly homeless…. This is a team that is unmatchable in their ability to address the challenges out there for people in encampments,” said Willis.

Main Street Project, the city’s current 24-hour homeless outreach provider, said officials were not available to provide an interview Monday. In an email, MSP also said the budget is too low.

“The total amount of the funding is not enough to fund one outreach team 24-7. This means whoever gets the contract will be required to have other funding in place to meet what the city is requesting,” wrote Cindy Titus, interim director of development.

MSP was paid $275,000 for the contract last year. Titus said that amount had to be topped up with other funding to get the job done.

She said a $900,000 to $1-million budget would make sense for the current contract.

Titus said Main Street Project’s annual costs for outreach include operating a second van during the winter months.

Mayor Scott Gillingham noted the budget increased by more than $100,000 from a year ago, while the city is also working to reduce the amount of outreach work required.

“The goal is to reduce the number of people living in encampments, and ultimately, the goal is that there’d be less work to do,” said Gillingham.

The next outreach provider will be required to conduct 24-7 well-being checks, provide emergency transportation and connect homeless people to services, especially housing. The team will also provide counts of people living in encampments, as well as the number of local encampment sites, four times per year.

Starting this year, the contractor will be tasked with helping implement the city’s encampment ban, which prohibits encampments at all times in many public spaces such as playgrounds, and restricts camping at other city properties to daytime hours.

That work includes helping the city warn encampment occupants about enforcement, store belongings of people asked to leave public land and remove garbage from vacated encampments.

The ban’s protocol was finalized in November.

“The city has brought in policy and protocols to say that there are certain… areas in the city where we’re not going to let encampments set up anymore. And, certainly, as we roll now into 2026, that will continue to be a key focus,” said Gillingham.

The encampment policy must take precedence over the provincially led Your Way Home Strategy — which aims to move people from encampments into housing — in any case where the two conflict, the request for proposals states.

Coun. Evan Duncan, chairman of council’s property and development committee, said support for the encampment ban will be a key part of the contract moving forward.

“We can’t have providers that are funded by the City of Winnipeg making up their own rules on the fly…. If the service provider is not on board with that, they will not be the service provider moving forward,” said Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).

City officials did not grant an interview request Monday.

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In a late-afternoon email, the city confirmed regular encampment counts, as well as a requirement to respond to city requests within 24 hours, are new elements of the contact.

“Our objective is to maintain public spaces while connecting unsheltered Winnipeggers with the agencies that can support them,” wrote spokeswoman Julie Dooley.

The contract will be in effect from April 1 to Dec. 31. The city will accept bids until Feb. 10.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne 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.