Brandon's Housing First works to provide shelter, vital supports in southwestern Manitoba

Margaret McKay, 23, has been struggling for the past five years to find a place in Brandon, Man., for her family to live.

She's been couch-surfing since she turned 18 and at times sleeping outside because she had nowhere to go. 

Now, for the first time, she has a home to call her own after working with Brandon Housing First, a program co-ordinated under the umbrella of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

"I had no place to go," McKay said. "The night before I was moving into the [Housing First unit] I had to stay in the bush."

She moved into her new home on Wednesday after joining the new program, just started in February, to house families.

McKay also gets support from the Brandon Friendship Centre's GAP youth outreach program, aimed at young people aged 13 to 29, who are particularly vulnerable to homelessness.

Their combined support is helping McKay get on her feet for the first time as an adult, she said.

"It is a really good step in the direction that I need in my life," she said. "I'm very excited about it."

Supportive housing

Housing First currently has 43 people housed in different units and 22 others in family housing, said Samantha van den Ham, Housing First's program manager.

Housing First opened two supportive housing locations in October — one for older people and one for high-risk people. The bachelor units are equipped with their own bathrooms, kitchenette and a shared common space. The locations also offer residents 24-hour access to staff supports.

In February, the program started the family housing project out of a local hotel.

Housing First also works closely with a mental health team and the Seventh Street Health Access Centre, which provides a range of health services that include a rapid access to addictions medicine (RAAM) clinic.

Van den Ham said her program is trying to address the housing shortage in Brandon by partnering with landlords and creating spaces to live. 

Affordable housing is a big issue in the city of 54,000, she said.

Average rents in Brandon are $782 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,000 for a two-bedroom, according to the most recent data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. 

A single person on employment income assistance gets about $616 a month for rent, and families get $793, said van den Ham.

"There's no way that that becomes affordable housing for individuals," she said.

Keeping families together

Van den Ham said the big push at Housing First is keeping families together, as the number of people who are homeless in Brandon continues to rise.

The number of people experiencing homelessness has been growing, according to Brandon's Homelessness Individuals and Families Information System — a database that tracks the number of homeless people in the city.

From November to the end of March 2023, it recorded 401 individuals experiencing homelessness. That number jumped to 521 over the same period in 2024.

Tristen Dalgetty and his family have been working with Housing First since losing their housing in Souris at the start of the year. He had been hospitalized for mental health care for a few weeks and his fiancée lost her job, leaving them unable to pay rent.

"The prospect of being homeless with a child is horrifying," Dalgetty said.

Housing First got them temporary housing at the start of March within a week of connecting with the program, Dalgetty said.

From there, they found a permanent home.

The organization helped them find stability, with referrals to programs like the Canada Manitoba Housing Benefit rent top-up through the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation, Dalgetty said. They also provided help on how to work with Manitoba Housing and how to get assistance for his disability.

That's the kind of help that can break the cycles that keep people unhoused, said Dalgetty.

Amber Carriere, 23, is living in Brandon after bouncing around the Prairies after leaving foster care.

"[I] couldn't land on my feet," she said.

She had been living in a car in Winnipeg with her 10-month-old before reaching out to her brother in Deloraine, southwest of Brandon, for help. 

That led to connecting with Housing First.

Carriere was scared to ask for help, since she worried it could lead to her son being taken away.

Instead, she's found support in a non-judgmental environment, she said.

Housing First has done a lot for her family, she said — they've organized activities for them and taught life skills like how to budget or make a meal. They also help co-ordinate with doctors and find resources she qualifies for, like employment and income assistance.

Carriere hopes that working with Housing First will give her son more stability than she had growing up.

Giving back to the community

Now that she has a home, Margaret McKay said she wants to give back to her community. She will be teaching beading and ribbon skirt-making with Housing First. 

She's also starting college soon.

Those steps, possible because of Housing First, are helping her create a healthier family, she said.

"You gotta have these programs and keep them going," McKay said. "If you don't keep them going … it's probably going to be worse downtown than it is now."