Manitoba government moves first encampment resident into home as part of project

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s latest plan to reduce homelessness has seen the project’s first person moved from an encampment into housing, says an adviser.

Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, the former head of the charity organization Siloam Mission, says the move happened last week after community agencies built a relationship with the person and found an appropriate housing unit.

“They had been in and out of encampments and between shelters for quite a while,” said Blaikie Whitecloud. She did not provide additional details about the individual.

The province has promised to eliminate chronic homelessness — people who are unhoused for several months or more — in the next seven years. A major part of its plan is to remove the estimated 700 people living in encampments.

Part of the plan, announced last month, includes buying apartment buildings so people living in encampments have immediate access to secure housing.

Several buildings are being bought and renovated, and the province aims to partner with municipalities and agencies to offer support services, such as addiction treatment.

In the past month, the government has been working with service providers to determine what options are available for supportive housing outside the few that are currently available.

“A big piece of this plan is that it starts with housing units, and those take a little bit of time to get online,” said Blaikie Whitecloud.

Work is underway to partner with community agencies to designate enough housing for everyone in an encampment, approach the people in the camp and determine what supports they may need.

The aim is to repeat the process, site by site, until they are clear.

The province has a goal of opening up some 300 residential units.

Blaikie Whitecloud wouldn’t say which encampments are being targeted first, because it depends on the needs of the residents.

“It needs to be a balanced approach of what units are coming online and who makes sense for those units, as well as how do we make sure that we’re doing work in terms of connecting with all encampment residents and providing opportunity,” she said.

The interim CEO of Siloam Mission said she sees the organization helping on the housing side.

“We definitely see ourselves playing a role … whether it’s operating as a landlord or operating as a service provider — open to doing both or one or the other,” said Julianne Aitken.

The organization announced its own housing strategy last year, which includes building 700 to 1,000 social housing units over the next decade.

Siloam Mission already operates an 85-unit apartment block, where clients can live long term with access to some supports. There’s also a transitional housing complex for people who have completed addictions treatment and another block that caters to seniors.

Aitken said the organization is working with the province on housing units for those leaving encampments and it’s connecting with another service provider to help people transition from living in tents to having a place to call their own.

The province has committed about $20 million over two years for the project, in addition to other housing and mental health money laid out in the budget.

The federal government also announced Wednesday that it entered into an agreement with Manitoba to support people without homes, including those in encampments. The funding is $7.5 million over two years.

It’s aimed at addressing homelessness and encampments, primarily in Winnipeg, by establishing a 20- to 30-bed supportive housing facility. The federal government said it would also help expand winter services at nine drop-in spaces.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2025.

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press