Mayoral candidate Loney seeks to free up EMS via homelessness strategy

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This article was published 27/06/2022 (1207 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg mayoral candidate believes his plan could quickly house vulnerable people now living in highly visible public places.

“If I’m elected mayor… we will be providing housing for our sisters and brothers who are currently living in bus shelters — and folks along the riverways — throughout the city within one year,” said Shaun Loney, a social enterprise leader.

Loney said that goal would be followed by a second phase of work to help others living unsheltered throughout the downtown also find homes.

Under current conditions, he said some vulnerable Winnipeggers trigger as many as 100 interactions with emergency services in one year, often tying up skilled workers who may then wait hours with an individual to secure mental health or addictions treatment at a care facility.

“Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Services visited bus shelters 1,770 times last year… The good news is that everybody knows the cost of providing the supportive housing, the mental health treatment, the addiction treatment upfront, is cheaper than responding to people perpetually, over and over and over again,” Loney said Monday.

Under his plan, emergency services would identify people who come in “constant contact” with police, firefighters and/or paramedics and determine the cost of that emergency staff time that requires each year. The city would then negotiate contracts with non-profit groups to connect those folks with supports proactively instead, freeing up savings emergency service providers could use to pay the non-profits for their work, Loney said.

Those changes should reduce the workload for city emergency crews and cut overtime costs, he added.

While Loney plans to release a separate housing pledge later in the campaign, the candidate said providing living spaces for those who need them should cost less than the demands some folks experiencing homelessness create for emergency and other government services.

“It can be $35,000 a year to support someone with supportive housing. But for many people who are interacting with emergency services, it’s $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 per year in not just police, ambulance and fire but also courts and health, in responding to them over and over and over again.”

Bringing in housing, addictions and mental health supports earlier could also prevent many emergency calls from being placed, he said.

The candidate acknowledged some of the outreach work he’s describing is already provided by agencies that support homeless Winnipeggers. He stressed such efforts must be ramped up considerably. “There are lots of things that we’re doing now that are working, they’re just way too small.”

A key advocate working to combat homelessness said plenty of local proactive work is already done, through mobile outreach groups and the city itself.

“Large swaths of (this election promise) describe what the Kíkinanaw Óma strategy (to support homeless Winnipeggers) and what the City of Winnipeg already does, except for the proposed financing model… Because of the effectiveness of these (current) strategies, (we have already) seen a significant decline in unsheltered homelessness and encampments since the winter,” said Kris Clemens, manager of communications and community relations for End Homelessness Winnipeg.

Clemens said she’s not familiar enough with the candidate’s funding model to weigh in on it specifically.

She stressed a major challenge to eliminating homelessness, even in specific areas, is the fact new individuals can continue to move into public spaces after others leave them.

“The problem is around the homelessness prevention. How do we, the next day (after others are housed), prevent 50 new people who have lost their housing… from pitching their tents or sleeping in the bus shacks?”

Winnipeggers will elect their next mayor and city council Oct. 26.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga