Manitoba Announces New Social Housing Units as Part of Plan to Tackle Homelessness

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew speaks at an event in Winnipeg, Man., on Jan. 18, 2024. The Canadian Press/John Woods

The Manitoba government has launched a plan to “end chronic homelessness” by moving encampment residents into housing, including more than 300 social units added by the province.

The plan, set to roll out in February, involves working in collaboration with the City of Winnipeg to move one encampment at a time into new social units, with access to supports including mental health and addiction services.

“No one should be chronically homeless in a country as rich as Canada,” said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew. “Our plan will move people out of tents and into warm, safe, secure housing with wraparound supports to help make sure they stay housed.”

An encampment will only be decommissioned once the province has housing ready to relocate all of its residents, the province said. Once an encampment site is selected, outreach teams will begin a 30-day transition period to assess residents’ needs and offer them housing.

Clean-up teams will clear vacant camps, and foot patrols will ensure the space remains unoccupied, the province said.

Approximately 700 Manitobans are currently living in encampments, according to provincial estimates.

The premier said at a Jan. 14 press conference that those served through the new program will receive the supports needed to move up through “a ladder of housing from social housing on to affordable and market-based rents.” He added the province has the goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2031.

The province said it will also provide “flexible funding” for people experiencing temporary homelessness “to help ensure a successful transition into housing.”

The premier said the province will take sole leadership of the plan, and will streamline the efforts of nonprofits, municipalities, and indigenous groups. Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, who has worked in the homelessness service sector since 2013, will be the premier’s new senior adviser on ending chronic homelessness, a newly created role to lead the plan’s coordination.

Blaikie Whitecloud said that in cases when encampment residents refuse to leave, the province will work to make “supportive housing the most attractive option.”

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said the new program will help make public spaces “welcoming and accessible” for Manitobans.

Carrie Hiebert, the Progressive Conservative shadow minister for housing, addictions, and homelessness, told reporters she’s concerned the province does not have capacity to execute the plan.

“We have front-line workers who are working to the brink, who need support,” she said. “So my question would be, where are they going to be getting all this extra support and staff to be running these programs?”

In its 2024 provincial budget, the province allocated around $116 million to the construction and upkeep of social and affordable housing.

The average age of Manitobans experiencing homelessness is 40, according to the province. Roughly 75 percent of them are male and more than 65 percent receive social assistance.

The province says the main causes for homelessness are, in order, family breakdown, addiction, eviction, loss of income, health issues, transition from child and family services, and exiting incarceration.