News & Updates

Work on End Homelessness Strategies

Posted on: October 31, 2020

This week marked a distressing milestone in an encampment at Balmoral - its 7th dangerous fire.  I wanted to provide you with a longer brief on the work I have done as your city councillor and as Chair of Protection and End Homelessness Strategies.

Winnipeg’s Process to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers
In June 2019, the City of Winnipeg changed the manner it approached encampments.  Prior to the change, many calls went to police.  When calls did go to the city via 311 the city responded to the debris aspects and public works, parks was deployed.  For instance, if a sleeping bag or tent was found in a park and given City bylaw states there is not camping in city parks, gear would be thrown in the truck as garbage.  In 2019, while there were no bylaw changes, the City started employing an interim strategy in consideration of the National Protocol on Encampments. 

Discussion on the Interim Strategy:
Winnipeg is in a housing crisis and the new approach is designed to support individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Winnipeg until a long-term housing solution can be developed in partnerships with other levels of government. While the interim strategy provides some level of support and intervention to those experiencing unsheltered homelessness, significant gaps remain, particularly in the availability of safe affordable and supportive housing.

The interim strategy does not provide a long-term solution to assist unsheltered Winnipeggers.

In those instances when an encampment needs to be vacated, the individuals who are displaced will oftentimes re-locate to a different location, often nearby.  This happened at the Austin Street encampment, when it moved to its current location George Street/Disraeli Bridge.  This cycle is expected to continue until a long-term plan, that includes access to affordable and supportive housing, is developed.

Residents reporting encampments most often want the encampment vacated immediately.  More often the concern is not for the people living unsheltered, but for garbage, feelings around safety, fires, and noise.

Given the human rights approach the process orders to vacate is oftentimes not the first priority.  For the majority of smaller encampments the first three steps in the process are continuously applied.  Calls come into 311 and Main Street responds. Even when there is a need to vacate, the related activities require an enormous, human-resource-intensive effort.  The process and procedure is oftentimes not clear.  This coordination is longer than anyone is comfortable with.

The coordinated approach has taken place when river levels rose this spring, and most notably, at the Austin Street encampment where fires and other life-safety issues warranted a notice from fire to vacate.  Large encampments are more complex. While the strategy has meant that police, fire and other departments are more considerate of their duties in upholding rights.  In some cases, this has meant an encampment with fairly significant criminality remains in place for too long.  This is the case with the Balmoral, and St. James encampments.  In other cases, this means fires burn and repeated reports of fires violations are concerning.  This is the case with the George Street encampment.  Coordination is more difficult, and in some cases, there are significant barriers in departments being solely accountable. 

The Deputy CAO is working toward more comprehensive criteria so departments can coordinate this more effectively.

Recent Policy Work & Motions at Council

1.   Report on the State of Residents Living in Encampments

The city produced a report on Unsheltered Winnipeg Work.  This comprehensive report provides an overview of the current state of residents living in encampments by addressing each of the following areas as well as providing relevant background and contextual information a total of sixteen (16) appendices.  It includes:

  1. Processes available to provide supports
  2. All stakeholders and agencies currently involved in providing supports, and the networks that have been formed for such efforts
  3. Gaps in support that would be otherwise beneficial to those residents
  4. Risks and threats to the health and life safety of those living in encampments
  5. Number of inquiries, complaints, or calls to 311 regarding encampment concerns
  6. Programs and initiatives of other levels of government designed to provide support to those living in encampments

 

2.   Affordable Housing Strategy and Housing Program for Winnipeg

Last term of Council the City chose to study housing need over creating a housing program. This month at the October agenda of Property Development Heritage and Downtown the department asked for additional time to complete a long-awaited program.  The delay was disappointing as the housing need is urgent. 

I continue to work with Councillor Gilroy on an Affordable Housing Strategy and Program for Winnipeg.  Including by writing more motions on housing with partners:

3.   Federal Funding, Cold Weather Response & Affordable Housing

According to the 2018 Winnipeg Street Census there are at least 1,519 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in Winnipeg and approximately 204 of those individuals are unsheltered.  Cold weather has returned and the COVID-19 pandemic both create significantly increased challenges to living safely without permanent shelter.  I continue to meet and work with End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW) and advocate for other agencies supporting keeping Winnipeggers safe in winter.

According to the Kikinawa Oma: A Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers, Winnipeg is home to only two supportive housing buildings: the Bell Hotel and the Madison.  This should give us all pause.  There is an urgent need for Housing First programs, as well as transitional and temporary housing.  Due to limited affordable and safe rental units there are limited options for individuals trying to ‘graduate out’.

EHW is the Community Entity for the Federal Reaching Home homelessness strategy and has a mandate to identify and support housing projects in the City of Winnipeg that address the greatest housing needs in the City, including emergency shelters and transitional housing.

Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation was created by the City of Winnipeg in 1970 and attained financial independence in 2017 and is a lead organization in the City to own, operate and create housing in the social and affordable housing space.

With the Government of Canada recently announced $1B in new housing funds as part of their Rapid Housing Initiative to develop housing across the affordable housing continuum I’m working with partners to draw as much of it to Winnipeg down as possible. Winnipeg deserves our fair share of that money. 

To this end I’ve written a motion asking the public service to:

  1. Work in collaboration with Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation and End Homelessness Winnipeg to identify active projects by any organization to address the needs of unsheltered Winnipeggers.
  2. Identify what Federal funding is available; identify ways in which the City of Winnipeg can provide support to the following types of projects: Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing or Social Housing
  3. Continue to follow up with the West Central Women’s Centre and Spence Neighbourhood Association regarding their joint proposal requesting use of space at Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre (MERC) to provide daytime cold weather warming space and meals and determine if it can be accommodated based on ongoing programming and use needs at MERC.
  4. Coordinate with the Property and Development Department in their efforts to provide a support framework for Affordable Housing Projects in the City of Winnipeg
  5. Funds for public washrooms

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the need for, publicly accessible washrooms and hand washing facilities in the city of Winnipeg. 

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing has published “A Human Rights Approach: A National Protocol for Homeless Encampments in Canada”, which outlines 8 fundamental principles, including Principle 6: Ensure encampments meet basic needs of residents consistent with human rights.  Principle 6 provides as follows:

“Access to hygiene and sanitation facilities - Homeless encampments must be provided with sufficient resources and supports to ensure access to hygiene and sanitation facilities – toilets, showers, hand- washing stations, for example – within the encampment, or within very close proximity… Facilities should ensure the hygiene and dignity of all residents irrespective of needs or identity….Hygiene and sanitation facilities should include:

• Washing stations, including showers with privacy and safety for women and gender diverse peoples, stocked with soap, water, paper towels

• Adequate numbers of toilets based on the encampment population which must be accessible for residents with disabilities. Every toilet station must also have a hand-washing station…”

The need for public restrooms has been identified by End Homelessness Winnipeg (“EHW”) and other community organizations including Main Street Project, West Broadway Community Ministry, Resource Assistance for Youth (“RaY”) and St. Boniface Street Links, who all installed temporary public toilets in key areas of the city during the pandemic.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, supported by an unprecedented $10 million philanthropic donation from the Canadian Medical Association Foundation, created the COVID-19 Community Response Fund for Vulnerable Populations (“CRFVP”) to directly fund cities and communities to support vulnerable populations struggling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including our Francophone communities.

The Public Service has received confirmation that $670,000 from the CRFVP has been allocated to the City of Winnipeg to fund initiatives and/or projects within the city that will further the stated intent and meet the criteria of the CRFVP, as long as funded projects are completed by February 2021.

Francofonds, Manitoba's Francophone community foundation, is contributing $140,930 to support vulnerable populations within our Francophone communities in Manitoba responding to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis through the federal Emergency Community Support Fund (“ECSF”).  The ECSF is a $350 million investment by the Government of Canada to help vulnerable populations deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic;

Of the $670,000 already gifted to the City from the CRFVP, up to $620,000 will be allocated to the creation of one or more permanent public washrooms and hand washing stations as follows:

·       The design, construction, and installation of permanent public washrooms that would be accessible to the public 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 days a year;

·       Location(s) to be approved in consultation with the EHW and the Public Service; and

·       Construction to be completed by February 2021.

 

The remainder of the $670,000 gifted to the City from the CRFVP be allocated for the immediate rental of temporary, portable washrooms and hand washing stations in areas of the city which will best serve the needs of homeless individuals, with locations to be identified through consultation with EHW and the Public Service.

5.   Funding for 24/7 Safe Spaces

The City of Winnipeg is entering into grant agreement in the amount of $150,000.00 with Ka Ni Kanichihk and $100,000 with WE 24/7 to provide 24/7 safe space programming. The 2020-2023 Multi-Year Budget, as approved by Council on March 20, 2020, contains $1,000,000.00 over four years to provide 24/7 safe space supports and services in Winnipeg.

The MMIWG-2S /IWG Coalition of Manitoba, Southern Chiefs Organization, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, and numerous other Indigenous social service agency and organizations have been working on a response to Call to Justice 4.7 consistent with Indigenous self-determination and self-governance.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls to Justice (4.7) called on governments to support the establishment and long-term sustainable funding of Indigenous-led low-barrier shelters, for Indigenous women, girls, and gender diverse peoples.

Many women, including Newcomer, Immigrant Black/Brown and Indigenous women and girls and gender diverse peoples face disproportionate violence and discrimination within Winnipeg, and governments have an obligation to protect these groups in a manner that is consistent with Indigenous self-determination, self-governance, and human rights.  I worked hard to forward both the 24/7 program and the amending motions.

 

 

Return to Article List