Winnipeg councillor backs off on proposal to dismantle bus shelters, favours long-term options

A Winnipeg city councillor who earlier said he wanted two bus shelters dismantled due to concerns about people using substances and living in them is backing off that idea, and now says he supports longer-term approaches.

"There's people in very difficult circumstances on our streets. We see it day in and day out," Transcona Coun. Shawn Nason said Thursday.

"It's not hidden homelessness, it's in our face. We need everybody to pull in the right direction to make positive change on this."

On Thursday, Nason's original motion — which called for removing the glass, heating and seating from two bus shelters on Regent Avenue, in front of Kildonan Place shopping centre — was received as information, which means nothing will happen with it.

Coun. Jeff Browaty was recorded in opposition.

Nason is now working with Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) to find ways the city can address the root causes of homelessness, such as creating a supervised consumption site and 150 low-barrier housing units, as well as finding money to support the city's poverty reduction strategy.

Those suggestions are part of a motion that will be heard at July's council meeting.

Nason said with his original proposal, he was listening to one group that helps the homeless population on the eastern side of the Red River. St. Boniface Street Links said it supported the idea of dismantling the shelters.

But he said he's had more conversations with other advocates and Street Links has changed its stance, so he's now scrapping the original idea.

"The sectors have all spoken now with a unified voice saying this is not the right approach," Nason said in an interview Thursday.

His original proposal came after complaints about items piled up, discarded needles and public defecation in the two shelters.

They were among the bus shacks that had the highest number of calls to 911 for service in 2021, the city's fire-paramedic service said earlier this year.

But advocates for people who are homeless say dismantling the shelters would only increase stigma against the community.

About 30 people circled around the courtyard at city hall Thursday morning to protest the original motion. Nason and Rollins met with them before the council meeting started, and he explained why he changed his mind.

"I'm sorry for the harms that I've caused. That's why I'm collaborating with … [Rollins] to find solutions," he told the crowd.

"We have to find help for the people in these shelters. I think we can all agree on that. How we go about it, that's where we need to find answers and work together."

Human-first approach: CAO

Browaty voiced his opposition to abandoning the idea at Thursday's meeting.

"Winnipeggers should be safe in their neighbourhoods, and a trip to the mall shouldn't include a fight at the bus stop," the North Kildonan councillor said during the meeting.

Mayor Brian Bowman, though, applauded the change.

"Often flip-flops get criticized. This one, I'm OK with, because it's the right thing to do," Bowman said during a news conference.

He repeated his past argument that addressing homelessness in Winnipeg depends on the province doing more for health and housing.

Some people who have spoken on the issue during previous council meetings said while they're relieved the shelters won't be dismantled, it's time for city hall to take charge of the homelessness issue, rather than putting the onus on the province.

"That's the famous way that they deal with things" Cora Morgan, the family advocate for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said in an interview.

"They try to escape responsibility instead of committing to those calls to action and doing what they need to do to address the problems."

Morgan said elected officials and city staff know what they have to do, since community advocates and people with lived experience have shared their solutions for years. They also wrote a letter to the city asking for longer-term solutions last week.

Morgan remains skeptical with this new motion.

"Saying and doing are two different things," she said.

"We'll see how much they reach out to the community organizations and what investment they put in."

Winnipeg chief administrative officer Michael Jack said the city has been working on a human-first approach to the bus shelters.

Though Nason is supportive of longer-term solutions, he said he's still looking for ways to address the safety concerns he's heard from the "thousand mall employees and transit users" in his ward. 

"There definitely needs to be another layer," he said.

"We need to find balance here."