Manitoba sending delegation to Houston to look at model that housed thousands of homeless people
Premier hints at earlier opening for supervised consumption site, expanding security rebate program
The Manitoba government is sending a delegation to Houston as it attempts to learn from the U.S. city's success in housing tens of thousands of homeless people.
Bernadette Smith, the minister responsible for housing, addictions and homelessness, will lead the team of provincial and Winnipeg officials, along with Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett and Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook, flying to the most populous city in Texas this week.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew wants the delegation to come together around one strategy to address homelessness.
While many people are already doing work in that area, there's room for collaboration, Kinew said.
"I don't know if it's fractured, or it's just that so many people with good intentions have started their own initiatives, and as a result they're each pursuing their own set of priorities," he told host Marcy Markusa during a Wednesday interview with CBC Manitoba's Information Radio.
"But the idea that us, as a funder and us as a convening force, as your Manitoba government, that we need to bring everyone together into one cohesive direction."
Also invited were people working on the front lines of the homelessness sector to join the delegation, including representatives with End Homelessness Winnipeg, Main Street Project and the Manitoba Métis Federation, a provincial news release said.
Over two days, beginning on Thursday, delegates will meet with Houston community organizations on the ground and visit the housing navigation centre led by the Coalition for the Homeless.
Finding homes quickly
"Houston has had significant success in reducing homelessness and we're looking to learn from them to help inform an approach that's tailored to Manitoba communities and builds on the good work already happening in our province," Smith said in a news release.
The Texas city has become world-renowned for putting roofs over the heads of 30,000 people struggling with homelessness in just over a decade.
The "Houston model," as it's known, relies heavily on a "housing-first" approach and a co-ordinated network of organizations that all work on the same wavelength.
It has been cited by Kinew and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham as an approach to emulate. Gillingham's office made its own visit to Houston last year.
On Wednesday, Kinew said he anticipates the provincial delegation will spend time together, over meals and in meetings, "really coalescing around this one plan."
"We can't have turf wars. We can't have people arguing about what the right approach is," Kinew said.
"We need to just say, 'We're getting people off the street, we're getting them into housing, and then we're giving them the mental health and addictions support and access to health care that's necessary for them to succeed in that housing.'"
During last year's election campaign, Kinew said an NDP government would eliminate chronic homelessness within eight years. They'd aim to connect individuals who've been without a home for six weeks or longer with housing and mental health supports.
Supervised consumption site could open early
Meanwhile, the premier said his government could open Manitoba's first supervised consumption site earlier than planned.
The province was anticipating the facility would open in the next fiscal year, but Kinew said the supervised consumption site may open early in the next year, thanks to the quick work of Aboriginal Health and Wellness, which will steer the creation and development of the facility.
The site's opening, however, is also dependent on receiving an exemption from the federal government, he said.
Earlier this month, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who is vying to become prime minister, said a future government under his leadership would seek to close any supervised consumption sites near schools, playgrounds and "anywhere else that they endanger the public."
Kinew said in response Wednesday he too doesn't want a supervised consumption site in those areas. He said the location of the Manitoba facility is one of the most important decisions the province will make on this issue.
"But we have to talk about this in a serious way," he said of the discussion around these sites.
"This is not the time for oversimplification. This is a time for nuance. This is not the time for talking points. This is the time to have a substantive discussion about how are we going to address a public health emergency."
Kinew said addictions specialists and other experts in the field are confident a supervised consumption site will save lives.
"You are going to see a decline, maybe not the biggest decline that we want to see, but you are start going to start to see overdose death numbers come down in Manitoba, if you move ahead with this plan."
Measures the NDP government have taken to combat crime have seen success, said Kinew.
Security rebate program fills up
He said the province has already exhausted its budget for a program giving businesses and homeowners a $300 rebate for security equipment. Applications opened in June and "within a couple days" the program was fully subscribed, Kinew said.
The premier teased the government will extend the program.
"I don't want to scoop myself, but yeah, we're gonna continue to be there because this is helping Manitobans," he told Information Radio.
The government is also looking to roll out recent public safety initiatives to other areas of the province, Kinew said.
This summer, the province is covering overtime costs for Winnipeg police units to focus on hot spots for retail crime, doubled community safety patrols in downtown Winnipeg and expanded supports at a Winnipeg shelter taking in people under the influence of intoxicants.
Kinew said the need for an expanded public safety approach is reinforced by stories like this week's reporting that residents of Sage Creek, a Winnipeg subdivision usually insulated from crime, have become fed up with a sudden increase in property crimes.
"We are going to be looking at that comprehensive approach in terms of reaching out to the different regions, but we're trying to do this also in a staged manner — let's try it in this targeted area. It works? OK, now let's expand it."
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