City report pushes for greater support for homeless community

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This article was published 14/09/2020 (2011 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THERE are often several homeless encampments in Winnipeg at any one time, according to the Main Street Project.

“On any given day, there’s about eight to 10 larger (encampments), which usually means five-plus people, and then there’s (other) scattered sites,” said Adrienne Dudek, Main Street director of housing.

The actual number of people living in those sites is difficult to track, however, since many tend to move around. Even when the bitter chill of Winnipeg’s fall and winter months leads some to seek indoor shelter spots as a means of survival, some will try to remain outside all year, she added Monday.

Those encampments are now the subject of a new City of Winnipeg report, which suggests the municipal government should work to create new 24-7 safe spaces, add affordable housing options, and continue an outreach strategy for those living at such camps.

The report also urges the city to seek “a greater partnership” with the Manitoba government to define how it could also help.

Coun. Sherri Rollins, chairwoman of council’s protection and community services committee, said some grants for new safe spaces should be awarded later this month.

Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) said she’ll also push for further changes when the committee debates the report Sept. 18, which would seek some form of federal and provincial government housing support.

She said a lack of local affordable housing must be addressed.

“We need the province to formally come to the table in a really substantial way,” said Rollins. “There’s federal, provincial and municipal work to do here.”

In addition to a lobby for more housing, Rollins also wants the city to formalize its referrals for outreach work to local non-profit agencies.

Since June 2019, the city has partnered with those groups to connect those living in encampments with services, instead of simply removing the camps. That process sees the city pass along non-emergency reports of new camps to the Main Street Project, a non-profit community health organization whose outreach workers will attempt to provide supports to unsheltered individuals.

“We will certainly go and see what services we can provide people, what are the barriers to why they’re not accessing services,” said Dudek.

She said such work sometimes involves trading camp residents’ items for others that pose less of a fire risk and/or helping connect people with mental health and addictions services.

The city’s 311 information line received 159 calls about homeless encampments in 2019, and 319 in 2020, so far, according to an emailed statement from a spokesperson.

Rollins said a lack of affordable units for those living in the lowest income brackets can lead people to repeatedly move between different temporary shelter and outdoor spots.

“We’ve got a housing crisis… there’s no (permanent) place to move people to,” she said.

The report notes Winnipeg will still dismantle camps “where significant life safety issues exist.” A serious fire risk was cited in June, for example, when the city removed two major encampments around the Manitoba Metis Federation building (150 Henry Ave.).

The report notes open fires can endanger camps, along with many residents’ combustible cardboard, plastic and wooden items, especially when those living outdoors rely on such fires for heat.

The 2018 Winnipeg Street Census, which surveyed about 1,519 individuals experiencing homelessness, found 204 lived unsheltered, 392 were housed in emergency shelters, and 895 had temporary or insecure accommodations. The number included 455 children and youth under the age of 29.

The report notes 66 per cent of all those experiencing homelessness identified as Indigenous, which it linked to a history of racism and colonization.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga