Shortage of housing for Indigenous seniors in city raising concerns ahead of northern flood, fire evacuations

A small group of women elders is expressing concerns about a lack of urban housing for Indigenous seniors, warning the crisis will only worsen as flood and wildfire evacuations uproot more from their communities.

“A lot of our people are coming from rural areas to the city, especially with the wildfires and the floods,” Kathy Mallett said at a forum Thursday at Sergeant Tommy Prince Place in north Winnipeg hosted by the Indigenous Seniors Resource Centre’s research committee.

“We’re going to have more and more people coming into the city looking for places to live. Guess what? We don’t have any homes for them.”

Older Indigenous adults are a fast-growing segment of Canada’s population, data shows. The proportion aged 65 and up grew from 4.8 per cent in 2006 to 7.3 per cent in 2016, and is projected to double by 2036. In Manitoba, the 2021 census reported 10 per cent of the province’s population identify as Indigenous, 52 per cent of whom identify as Métis and 46 per cent as First Nation.

End Homelessness Winnipeg’s 2018 Street Health Survey report identified 71 per cent of those considered homeless as Indigenous, 15 per cent of whom were seniors age 55 and older.

The Indigenous seniors research committee led the Minosin Kikiwa (“a good home”) project in 2023-24 to draw attention to the complex housing-related challenges faced by older Indigenous adults in Winnipeg.

Because of lower average life expectancies, Indigenous elders are considered “senior” before they turn 65, the committee said.

Respondents to its survey of those age 55-plus included 58 per cent who rented and 21 per cent who were homeless or in unstable or transitional housing. Only 27 per cent of the 48 respondents said they could easily meet their financial needs.

Many struggle to access safe, affordable housing with the added challenges of racism, institutional trauma and culture shock, said Joanne Mason, who co-chairs the research committee. Some stay in dilapidated rentals and are exposed to violence and abuse because it’s too difficult and expensive to move, she said.

“If you don’t feel safe at home, it affects your health,” said Mason.

One 66-year-old survey participant at the forum said she feels safe in her seniors building after moving there seven years ago from the main floor of a North End house that was not a peaceful place to live.

“My neighbour upstairs was abusing his girlfriend,” said the woman, who asked not to be named.

“I warned him that I’m not going to take that — for him to treat her like that,” she said. “He told me to my mind my own business. I said, ‘It is my business, regarding my fellow woman.’”

She said she wants to have “peace of mind,” but it’s a challenge when so many are experiencing what she called displaced anger.

“I see a lot of trauma,” said the woman.

Mason recalled moving to the city from “the bush” in northern Manitoba decades ago. It was challenging, she said.

“It’s a whole new country, a whole new way of life — it was just so different,” she said, adding she is concerned about the struggles of uprooted elderly Indigenous people.

“That’s what they go through, and this is supposed to be our golden years.”

Housing Minister Bernadette Smith said the province is taking action to create more affordable housing for Indigenous seniors.

“They’ve helped build our province… and we want to make sure housing is there that is affordable,” Smith said.

The province has 13 projects worth more than $33 million on the go with First Nations and Métis governments, she said, noting the NDP is also funding Manitoba Housing to get 2,100 units back in the system.

The province is trying to remove some “generational barriers” by funding housing projects that employ Indigenous workers, and added $2.5 million to the adult education budget this year, Smith said.

“We’re getting people into the workforce. Generations behind them are going to see that and value that,” she said. “That’s the kind of generational barriers that we’re trying to overcome.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca