Outreach workers at St. Boniface Street Links are ramping up their efforts to relocate dozens of people out of encampments east of the Red River as community organizations and shelters in Winnipeg brace to help unhoused people before the winter rolls in.
Marion Willis, founder and director of the organization, told CBC News that over the last two weeks, nine encampments have been dismantled, helping at least a dozen people to pack their belongings and relocate into shelter spaces and other forms of housing.
“There’s no safety, there’s no hope at the encampments, and that just elevates the chance that a person will succumb to a fentanyl overdose or violence,” she said.
Willis said there are plans to clear up another large encampment on Lindale Drive on Thursday and another on St Mary’s Road later this week.
“But there’s always going to be a few people that are determined to stick it out through the winter or stay out as long as they possibly can,” Willis said.
She said six people east of Winnipeg refused to move out from the encampment last year and ended up visiting transit shelters in St. Boniface.
“That’s okay, people have free will, but we really do everything we can to encourage people to choose housing over encampment living,” she said. “It’s much easier to support people when you have them indoors.”
Willis said sheltering people is important to protect them from the harsh winter weather and the alternatives they seek to stay warm outside, like setting up makeshift fires.
“We feel like the ugly cousins on the other side of the river,” she said. “But it’s not safe for people to be in those encampments.”
Another reason to shelter people, she said, is the levels of substance addiction at encampments, as well as the need for mental health and recovery services that can’t be otherwise provided.
“We don’t just house people and go away; we are getting them out of survival mode and then beginning to have some discussions about what a different future looks like,” she said. “That’s what drives me.”
Winter weather response plan unveiled
St. Boniface Street Links is one of more than 40 community stakeholder groups participating in this year’s winter weather response plan, a citywide strategy focused on reducing the health impacts of the season’s hazards.
Part of this year’s plan includes an emergency housing fund for outreach groups to support “rapid and temporary housing … for those in encampments, sleeping on the streets or vulnerable to being homeless,” the plan said, including covering hotel and transport expenses to relocate people.
“It’s one of the first times that we have concentrated dollars to do that work of housing folks straight from encampments,” said Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, CEO of Siloam Mission.
The new funding, she said, is important because many people living in encampments don’t “want to adhere to the shelter structure,” so offering a pathway to housing is a better option to support them.
But Main Street Project, another organization participating in this year’s winter weather response plan, said the silver lining of their work with people living in the encampment this winter is not to ensure a transition for everyone to shelter space.
“If they want to stay where they are, and many people do it for a number of reasons, we’ll make sure that we’re supporting from a human rights-based approach, upholding their dignity, upholding their human rights and making sure that they have the supplies that they need to stay warm,” Cindy Titus, communications manager for Main Street Project, said.
Under the winter weather response plan, funding will also be allocated to support those staying back at the encampments, including garbage collection, washrooms, shower services and other facilities to “provide dignity and uphold human rights.”
Shelters overrun, more people experiencing homelessness
The response plan also includes an enhanced response by Main Street Project this winter, adding a second, 24-hour outreach van to do wellness checks at encampments, and providing transport to overnight warming spaces and shelters, among other services.
“We need to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of everyone, and we’re definitely seeing more people experiencing homelessness now than before,” Titus said.
Meanwhile, other shelters in Winnipeg have also taken part in reaching people living in encampments ahead of the start of winter, like the Salvation Army Winnipeg Centre of Hope, which has been preparing its response plan since the start of the summer, which involves connecting with people living in encampments.
“We’ve been building relationships with them so when it gets really cold, and it’s going to get there, that we have built enough trust that they’ll come in from the cold, get warm, have a hot meal,” Mark Stewart, executive director at the Salvation Army, said.
“We care about them, and we’re here for them.”
Salvation Army’s emergency shelter, one of the largest in Manitoba, has been serving roughly 340 people daily, including those experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg.
With occupancy peaking at 500 people early this year, the shelter is bracing to provide services for more people as temperatures start plunging, accommodating 20 extra beds and creating 20 other spaces specific for women refugee claimants.
To help with the overflow from Winnipeg shelters and encampments, Siloam Mission is opening a warming space that will remain open regardless of how low temperatures drop this winter until the end of March.
“We have noticed that the shelter system is completely full, that’s why it’s so important that we have an emergency response, but even more important we have a housing response,” Blaikie Whitecloud from Siloam Mission said.
“We’re not going to emergency shelter our way out of homelessness.”
The cold weather is coming, and not everyone in Winnipeg has a warm place to go. We checked with some outreach groups to see how they’re preparing to help Winnipeg’s homeless.