Residents of 5 downtown Winnipeg encampments moved into housing units, province says

About a dozen people living at five downtown Winnipeg encampments have been moved into housing units, after the launch of a plan to end chronic homelessness, Manitoba's housing minister says.

Late last year, Premier Wab Kinew said his government would start moving people out of tent encampments and into new housing units, clearing one encampment at a time.

The plan outlines a strategy Kinew described as being like a ladder, with people gradually moving from basic shelter to housing in the private rental market.

Bernadette Smith, Manitoba minister for housing, addictions and homelessness, said in an interview on Wednesday that dozens of people, including partners from local outreach organizations like Main Street Project and Siloam Mission, have been going encampment to encampment for the last six weeks, building relationships with those living at five downtown Winnipeg sites. 

So far, the province has only found a few people living in each encampment, and once all occupants from one site were housed, city crews were brought in to clear up the site, Smith said.

"I thought it would take a lot longer to kind of get folks into housing, but it's pretty amazing to see people get into housing, get [the] support that they need," Smith told CBC. 

$73.4 million in funding 

Kinew's second budget, tabled Thursday, is boosting funding for the housing, addictions and homelessness department by $58 million compared to last year. 

Out of the budget $73.4 million will be allocated to the province's plan to end chronic homelessness and move people living in encampments to permanent housing.

The funding includes $25 million to open a navigation centre where outreach staff can connect with the people living in encampments, as well as $16 million to renovate a downtown Winnipeg building to provide transitional housing for 118 people.

More space will be freed up for people moving from encampments by renovating 270 Manitoba Housing units with $5.6 million in funding. The budget is also allocating $1 million for rent subsidies to support people moving to the private rent market.

Wrap-around services, including recovery management and transitional supports, for people moving out of encampments will be funded with $8.9 million from the budget. 

The province has already purchased three buildings with non-profit partners, including one bought for $9.3 million to provide housing support for people moving out of the encampments. 

So far, about a dozen people have been moved from tents into apartments bought by the government, Smith said. A press secretary for the province's cabinet added these are permanent and new social units that are operated by partners using provincial funds.

Manitoba is also offering wrap-around support to those being housed, which Smith said is intended to help stabilize them and eventually help them enter the workforce.

"Some of these folks have not been housed for a very long time," Smith said. "They've all been receptive. We haven't had any resistance because we've been able to offer folks housing."

Carrie Hiebert, homelessness and housing critic for the Progressive Conservatives, told CBC they want to see every person experiencing homelessness have their own safe space they can call home, but that at this rate it will take decades before the province can see results. 

Smith said the people that have been recently housed came from a Tory government that "sold off housing" and didn't make it available for them.

But one of the biggest barriers so far to dismantling the encampments, Smith says, has been finding housing that also supports the needs of people in the encampments.

"We have to make sure that we have the right kind of housing available, with the right kinds of support to support the folks in the encampments," Smith said. 

As units become available, the province will continue to move people out of encampments, with Smith saying another 40 are expected to open up in the next weeks.