Winnipeg advocates hope for change after report calls homeless encampments a 'national human rights crisis'
Time for 'federal government to get busy and to develop a national strategy' on homelessness: Street Links ED
Housing advocates in Winnipeg say they hope a new report calling for a national homeless encampment plan will lead to much-needed change.
Federal housing advocate Marie-Josée Houle released a report Tuesday that outlines six calls to action to address homelessness across the country, in which she calls the encampments a "national human rights crisis."
"I couldn't agree with the advocate more," said Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, a non-profit that works to end homelessness in Winnipeg.
"Certainly it's appropriate for the federal government to get busy and to develop a national strategy to end homelessness right across this country."
The report comes as a growing number of people in Canada are turning to encampments for shelter due to a lack of affordable housing and support, says Houle's report.
It notes 2022 Statistics Canada data that says 20 to 25 per cent of unhoused people in Canada live in encampments, and calls on the federal government to create a national response plan by Aug. 31 of this year.
The report also calls for governments to end forced encampment evictions and ensure people living in encampments can access clean water, sanitation, food, health care, and other basic necessities.
Willis said the national plan needs to be "inclusive," and must address the factors that lead to homelessness.
LISTEN | Winnipeg housing advocates react to new homeless encampment report:
"Right now, where mental health and addictions predominate, where there's just an untold level of violence across this country ... all of these issues are linked," she said in an interview with CBC's Information Radio Tuesday.
"We have way too many people just out there barely surviving."
The report also says governments need to fund or create more permanent housing and address "structural barriers that result in existing emergency shelters not being accessible or appropriate for all people who might choose to use them."
Advocate Al Wiebe, who has experienced homelessness himself, said he's feeling optimistic after the report's release.
"It's really important that … we realize that they have human rights just like everybody else," he told Information Radio host Marcy Markusa.
Wiebe said people living in encampments face a lot of barriers, including forced evictions and access to safe shelters.
"People are in camps … because of fear of shelters, and at the moment we just don't simply don't have enough housing for people to go to," said Wiebe.
"I've been in several shelters and every single time we go in there's an issue of violence…. People become erratic."
'Yet one more report'
Shauna MacKinnon, a professor with the University of Winnipeg's department of urban and inner-city studies, says the recommendations in the report are welcome but bring "a level of frustration."
"It's yet one more report saying what many, many, many reports are saying," she told CBC News.
"To address the kind of housing that we do need most … we need to have housing that's outside of the market, that has supports for people who are needing them."
She said there isn't enough political will among governments to create housing for the most vulnerable. Instead, MacKinnon said governments court voter support by focusing on housing that's affordable to middle-income people.
"People are talking about affordable housing generally ... people are thinking about it relative to their own experience," she said.
To change that, MacKinnon said people need to urge their elected officials to invest in the issue.
"What's going to make the change is if there's a public outcry," she said.
"It's just so outrageous that we see people living in these conditions, and we know why it's happening. We know what we need, and it's just not happening."
While Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said Tuesday morning he hadn't yet had a chance to read the report, he said creating more housing has always been his priority.
"We need more housing built and more housing made available for individuals to get them off the streets," he said.
"The solution to encampments is housing with wrap-around supports."
In response to the report's call to end forced encampment evictions, Gillingham said the city doesn't typically take down camps, but has done so in the past over concerns for the safety of people living in them.
"Whether it's police or certainly our fire paramedic staff ... they have worked with the individuals who are living in the encampments," said Gillingham.
"They try their best always to work not only with the individuals living in the encampments, but the front-line service agencies ... to come at it from a very respectful approach."
With files from Marcy Markusa, Cameron MacLean and Rosanna Hempel