No end in sight for Winnipeg’s homeless occupying bus shelters

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As winter approaches, the head of Winnipeg’s Transit union says the problem of bus shelter homelessness isn’t getting better even though the mayor says there’s been an 80% reduction.

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According to statistics provided by Winnipeg Transit that outline the number of reports called in for people sleeping in bus shelters, the situation is improving.

Sheltering in transit shelters

January 2019 – 157
January 2020 – 259
January 2021 – 521
January 2022 – 221
January 2024 – 102
February 2019 – 102
February 2020 – 251
February 2021 – 421
February 2022 – 166
February 2023 – 159
February 2024 – 72

“I mean, for Transit to put out a stat that the occupancy of shelters is reduced by 80% is surprising to us,” said ATU 1505 President Chris Scott in a conversation with the Winnipeg Sun. “This isn’t something I’ve seen as factual. It is something that’s very difficult to assess for us, though.”

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham told the Winnipeg Sun bus shelter homelessness is down 80% since 2021 — citing Transit stats. He mentioned his campaign promise to invest in more 24/7 community safe spaces.

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“They provide outreach agencies the opportunity to get people out of bus shelters into a warmer place, so the transit shelters can be freed-up for transit users again,” he said. “We haven’t completely alleviated the problem.”

Winnipeg resident Gerald Brown said seniors living downtown no longer feel safe leaving their buildings in the evening — bus shelters and panhandling are a particular problem.

“Some families have moved their elders out of here because they no longer like the neighbourhood,” he said. “It has changed significantly in the last three to five years.”

Should there be tougher laws to ensure bus shelter occupants are evicted and taken to safer places?

“If you just take people out of a bus shelter and you’ve got no place for them to go, then you’re really shuffling the issue to another part of the city, or literally down the street,” said Gillingham.

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“One of the things that I did since being elected was hire and deploy community safety officers. They’re on transit, buses and around transit stops.”

Chris Scott expects an uptick in bus shelter homelessness as people transition from spring, summer and fall encampments along Winnipeg waterways to the city. Another factor affecting the problem is bus shelter vandalism, he said.

“Obviously, that puts a strain on the department’s budget to replace all this glass,” he said. “That may also be another factor on why Transit is reporting an 80% reduction because there are no walls on the shelters. It’s just a roof six feet over your head. So, that may also be the contributing factor to why occupancy is down, because of the amount of glass that’s missing out of many of these shelters.”

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Scott estimates the number of fully intact bus shelters in Winnipeg is less than 50%.

He said Transit has already exhausted its yearly budget for repairing bus shelters, noting community safety officers are helping with bus shelter homelessness and overall transit safety.

“You have to balance the needs of the ridership of transit with the needs of those who are unhoused,” said Scott. “It’s very difficult to balance those.”

Community safety officers often set up social service connections for people living in bus shelters, said Scott.

“And in some cases, the officers even drive people to those resources, whether it’s Main Street Project for food and housing or Siloam Mission or they work in partnership with all these community groups,” he said.

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Even though community safety officers are often effective, the problem of bus shelter homelessness is so widespread that it doesn’t take long for shelters to be reoccupied once individuals are directed to appropriate services, said Scott.

“That’s an issue for our maintenance staff who regularly clean bus stops — a struggle,” he said, noting bus drivers often have to wait outside in bad weather to start their shift.

Scott said a bylaw is in place to prevent people from spending more than 90 minutes in bus shelters, but it’s mostly unenforced to prevent excessive burden on the homeless.

Scott is calling on all levels of government to step-up work to tackle poverty in Winnipeg.

On the subject of crime on and around transit, he said there’s been a slight drop in incidents, but the severity of violence is getting worse. He mentioned a recent stabbing on a bus.

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“We need to start thinking outside the box on how to achieve a safe transit system,” he said.

In July, community safety officers thwarted a machete attack in the North End. The attempted armed robbery of a young man took place near the intersection of Selkirk Avenue and Powers Street.

The incident is an indication the Community Safety Team program is working, said program head Bob Chrismas.

“If someone is high on meth and running through traffic, which is very common, or causing a disturbance, we can detain them for their own well-being,” he said, adding officers have saved a number of people from overdose death.

Gillingham said all levels of government and social service agencies are working to build more housing for vulnerable people.

“We need housing with wraparound supports for people who are homeless to get them off the street, off the riverbank, out of the bus shelters and into housing with wrap-around supports,” he said.

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