Manitoba plans to shut down homeless encampments one at a time, finding housing for each person

Premier Wab Kinew has released a long-awaited plan — involving municipal and Indigenous governments and non-profit organizations — to end Manitoba's chronic homelessness issue by methodically decommissioning encampments and moving people into housing.

"Today's the day where we commit to a turning point. We're going to work together and ensure that everybody has a place to call home and, importantly, that you have the addictions and mental health services to succeed in living with a roof over your head," Kinew said at Tuesday's announcement at the Granite Curling Club, across from the legislative building.

Homeless encampments have existed for several years in the trees between the club and the Assiniboine River.

"This is a rich country, and yet, for far too long, people have been left behind. They've been left behind without housing, they've been left behind without mental health services. They've been left behind without a path to stay alive," Kinew said.

The province will spend $20 million on the effort over the next two years, he said — money that is on top of other housing and mental health money laid out in the budget.

He spoke of his own addictions issues in the past and being given a second chance.

"I have a deep abiding faith in the people of this province that … you can make good on a second chance, too," he said.

The new plan, called Your Way Home, outlines a strategy, like a ladder, that moves people up to independence. The bottom rung is basic shelter, while the top is the private rental market, with various levels of supported housing in between.

1 camp at a time

Beginning in February, the province and the City of Winnipeg will move people from one encampment at a time into housing.

After a site is selected, a 30-day transition period will be used to get everyone into housing and set up with wraparound support, including flexible funding for people who are experiencing incidental homelessness.

Encampments will only be decommissioned once move-in-ready housing is secured for every person.

The sites will then be cleared by cleanup teams and monitored by foot patrols to ensure they remain clear and the areas can be used safely by the public.

The province is in the process of purchasing and renovating apartment buildings that will add 300 new social units with support services, said Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith.

The locations of those new units will be released in weeks to come, she said.

The province will also free up additional housing spaces for people in encampments by convincing some existing Manitoba Housing tenants to move out. Individuals "who are best positioned to succeed" in the private rental market will be provided with rent supports so they can afford their new accommodations, according to the strategy.

The plan will be quarterbacked by Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, who has worked in the homeless-serving sector since 2013 as executive director for 1JustCity and, for the last three years, as CEO of Siloam Mission.

Staff were notified on Monday that she is leaving Siloam at the end of the month to join the provincial government. Her new title is premier's senior adviser on ending chronic homelessness.

Through Blaikie Whitecloud, the province will lead and co-ordinate the plan, working to streamline the efforts of other stakeholders, Kinew said.

Asked how they intend to help those who refuse to leave an encampment, Blaikie Whitecloud said the key is to "make that supportive housing the most attractive option."

You do that by working with people who are homeless to find out what support they need to agree to move, she said.

"It is engaging people … in the actual planning of the infrastructure … and then doing that work with the charity partners that are coming alongside us in order to develop [that] housing," Blaikie Whitecloud said.

"It is ensuring that folks have 2SLGBTQ housing if that's where they need to be to feel safe, or Indigenous women's only housing, if that's where they need to be to feel safe, [and] access to detox and support services for treatment as soon as they're ready."

It could also mean moving an entire encampment into housing together, so they don't lose that sense of street family, she said. 

"This plan is starting from a perspective of compassion, building up what people say that they need to move into housing."

WATCH | Province unveils plan to end chronic homelessness:

Manitoba begins plan to move people from encampments to homes

9 hours ago

Duration 2:09

Manitoba's government unveiled its strategy Tuesday for ending chronic homelessness by moving people out of encampments and into permanent housing.

Every month, there's an average of 100 units available at an affordable rate in Winnipeg, and there are roughly 3,500 people competing for those units, Blaikie Whitecloud said.

"Is it ambitious to say that we can end chronic homelessness? Yes," Blaikie Whitecloud said. 

"[But] this plan starting with housing, and that housing being the [supported] housing that is actually needed, is why I believe that this plan will work."

The province's 2024 budget included $116 million to build 350 social and affordable housing units and repair more than 3,000 units. Those will be incorporated into the new strategy.

The outline for the plan says it will take until the end of 2031 to complete.

The plan requires significant co-ordination between the province and municipalities, as well as community partners, Smith said.

"This work won't be easy," she said.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said he and city council fully support the plan and will back it up.

"Today is a very great day, one that I certainly have been looking forward to for a long, long time," Gillingham said.

"We're all-in as a city."

Everyone wants to see immediate results, "but complicated problems require well-thought-out solutions, and they take time to address," Gillingham said.

"This plan, I believe, is the right approach, and I'm confident in the weeks and the months ahead, Winnipeggers will start to see meaningful change on our streets, in our parks, on our riverbanks and in other public spaces," he said.

Most importantly, people will start moving into housing with the supports they need for healthy, stable lives, he said.

"This plan offers hope."