Room service for transitional housing

Homeless people set to move into transitional housing will get a suite treatment later this year thanks to a donation from a Winnipeg hotel making its own transition.

The Fairmont Winnipeg will donate its room furnishings, including more than 760 beds and box springs, before it undergoes a multimillion-dollar renovation this summer.

Anything that isn’t nailed down in the 340 guest rooms will be donated to Linking Hope, a non-profit that will dole the items out to its 120 partner agencies across Manitoba.

“We had always had the donation intent top of mind, we did not want all of this to just find its way into a landfill,” said Ian Taylor, general manager of Fairmont Winnipeg. “There are needs within the community and the province abroad that we needed to look at.”

Linking Hope takes in donations and surplus stock from retailers to distribute to homeless and vulnerable people. The agency recently moved into a warehouse at 323 Edwin St. from its previous home at 190 Disraeli Fwy.

The Fairmont is set to close on June 30, at which time its rooms will be stripped down to the studs and its wares donated. More than 12,000 pieces will be donated to Linking Hope, including beds, headboards, nightstands, tables and chairs, lamps and linens. Bathroom vanities and toilets will also be part of the donation. Taylor said he couldn’t put a dollar figure on the gift.

The province’s homelessness strategy has taken 223 people out of encampments since it launched in January 2025. That number doesn’t account for the number of people housed through non-profit organizations like Main Street Project, St. Boniface Street Links and N’Dinawemak, which Linking Hope works closely with.

Linking Hope’s founder Kristie Pearson said people transitioning into independent housing usually have no furniture and little money to make their space feel like a home. She is thrilled with the donation.

“This is good quality furniture, it’s built to last,” Pearson said. “And it’s more than just the furnishings, it’s all the little things, so we can then also help them with some clothing and some hygiene, that will just make it a little easier.”

In March, James Richardson & Sons Ltd., which owns the Fairmont Winnipeg, announced the facility would undergo a transformation to return it to its glory of being a “pre-eminent, top-tier hotel.”

The overhaul is expected to cost more than $120 million and take a little under a year.

Figures show homelessness in Winnipeg is growing. The most recent data released by End Homelessness Winnipeg show the number of people living without stable housing in Winnipeg rose to 8,248 in March, an increase of 104 from February.

Taylor called the partnership a privilege.

“It’s just amazing that we get to do this and be part of this amazing transformation, not only for our hotel but for the city of Winnipeg, but also I think transforming some others’ lives in their time of need, going through transitional housing and moving from where they are today to something different,” he said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca