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Winnipeg Free Press
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mayes tries to address ‘battle' over homeless outreach turf
Coun. Brian Mayes says the city should 'encourage' St. Boniface Street Links and Main Street Project to start a dialogue with the city on how best to co-ordinate their work on the homeless problem. 'It's just so unfortunate that we've got some money (to tackle this), we want to reduce encampments and here we are with this battle over who should be doing the work,' said Mayes. The St. Vital councillor raised a motion at Thursday's city council meeting that calls for talks between the municipal government and two key homeless outreach providers, to ensure they help as many vulnerable people as possible and avoid overlapping their services. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Coun. Brian Mayes would like to see St. Boniface Street Links and Main Street Project work with the city on how best to co-ordinate their work on the homeless problem. In June, the City of Winnipeg awarded Main Street Project a $275,000 contract for mobile outreach services, with a focus on moving people out of encampments and into housing, as part of the provincial Your Way Home strategy. That made MSP the city's main outreach provider, about six weeks after the agency was accused of re-establishing a homeless encampment near the riverbank in Point Douglas. End Homelessness Winnipeg later told the Free Press that action was taken to move someone out of one encampment due to a safety concern, when other housing wasn't available. Mayes said MSP and Street Links have different approaches but both services are needed. He said co-ordination is key to ensure Main Street isn't sent by the city to support the same encampments the public reports to Street Links. 'How do we deal (with that)? Are we going to have two separate groups showing up and arguing?' he asked. Street Links recently said it will continue operating through donations in its initial zone east of the Red River, regardless of not getting the latest city grant, Mayes noted. 'If that's really the case, we can probably get a lot more bang for our buck through Main Street Project. If they (don't) have to cover as big of an area, if they (would just cover) west of the Red,' he said. Marion Willis, the executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, said her organization has a great success rate, housing 22 people in July alone. Rather than start new discussions, Willis would prefer the city give Street Links jurisdiction to keep handling outreach in its current area. 'The motion that I would look for … (would be one) that protects, by city council resolution, our ability to be the service provider for all of eastern Winnipeg,' she said. Willis said overlap has already occurred between the two organizations, as both tried to help one individual in a south Winnipeg encampment within the past week. 'There's a clash all along the Red on our side where people are being told they can stay where they are. Our approach is not going to be to support people to live in encampments. That's never going to be the case for us,' she said. Mayor Scott Gillingham said he believes outreach providers are already in dialogue, so calling for further talks would be redundant. 'All of those front-line agencies (have been) at the table and they are at the table on a regular basis,' said Gillingham. The mayor noted the city still provides some funding to Street Links, stressing he sees the need for both groups. 'There is, unfortunately, so much work to do when it comes to addressing homelessness right now and meeting the needs of unsheltered individuals,' he said. This year's city budget included $250,000 for Street Links 24/7 safe space and $59,375 for its mobile outreach service up to the end of June. The budget also included three funding pockets for Main Street Project, including: $86,400 for its Main Stay program; $178,126 for its mobile outreach (up to the end of June) and $275,000 for mobile outreach during the last six months of the year. Main Street Project did not grant an interview request on Thursday. In an email, the organization said it is working with all groups that provide outreach service to homeless people. 'We host a bi-weekly outreach meeting, and all outreach teams are invited to participate in those co-ordination meetings and use the Signal app for real-time communication between outreach providers. That will always remain open to all groups doing outreach,' wrote Jamil Mahmood, MSP's executive director, in the statement. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom. Mahmood added his organization encourages more unity among groups and governments to address homelessness. 'We are always willing to work with and co-ordinate with all the amazing teams doing such important work for our city,' he wrote. Council's executive policy committee will consider the matter in September. X: @joyanne_pursaga Joyanne PursagaReporter Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne. Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Street Links' supporters demand slice of funding pie to shelter homeless
Anger and dismay filled the room as dozens of supporters and residents called on the City of Winnipeg to restore funding to St. Boniface Street Links after it lost a contract to help the homeless population find shelter. Extra chairs had to be brought in to the Norwood Community Centre to accommodate the packed room, which included members of the outreach team and Coun. Cindy Gilroy, the only politician in the room. 'We will not be discouraged,' outreach co-ordinator Michelle Wesley told the crowd, earning a round of applause. 'We're not going anywhere. We will continue showing up. We will continue to do the work… one street at a time.' MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, says the turnout and reaction at Thursday's meeting indicates 'that we've been very successful.' The city, which took responsibility for allocating funding under the province's Your Way Home strategy in April, awarded its sole $275,000 outreach contract to Main Street Project last month, leaving Street Links and other organizations in a lurch. Street Links' expired contract had involved provincial funding. Executive director Marion Willis said she took a step back after the decision to see how the community would respond. On Thursday, the message was clear. 'If the community responded, that would indicate to me that we've been very successful,' Willis said. 'Our success isn't just measured by the number of encampments we can dismantle, the number of people we can house. It's the extent to which we can engage the community to help them feel, that we all own the challenges and we're all part of the solutions.' In an internal email to Mayor Scott Gillingham and fellow councillors last week, Gilroy criticized the city's move to exclude Street Links and other groups from the round of funding. 'I've seen first-hand the difference their work makes not only in addressing homelessness, but in helping individuals struggling with addiction navigate systems that are often impossible to access without strong advocacy and support,' Gilroy wrote. Willis emphasized she has no objection to Main Street Project receiving the contract — the organization runs Winnipeg's only 24-7 outreach van — but questioned why other groups were excluded from funding. '(MSP and us) are not great friends,' she said, adding MSP's practices do not mirror those of Street Links. 'But there is a place for all of us out there. All of these outreach teams are doing the very best they can with what they have. It's going to take all of us.' Between 2022 and 2024, the city divided $550,000 in outreach funding between three groups: $356,250 to Main Street Project, $118,750 to St. Boniface Street Links, and $75,000 to Resource Assistance for Youth. Willis told attendees that previous funding had helped expand Street Links' outreach work into a $600,000 program — one she now intends to sustain through donors. She noted that past private contributions, including a $500,000 donation, will be reallocated to maintain outreach efforts. 'We don't have to report to the city; we don't have to report to the province,' she said. 'You know who we are going to report to? You. Because it's you who have funded the program all along.' The cuts have affected the West Central Women's Resource Centre, whose outreach team — the only one in Winnipeg targeted to women and gender-diverse people — will finish working on Sunday. The province did not renew its $256,000 contract, and no money was provided by the city. 'The real concern for us is that it will slow down the process of getting housed, that it will take away the emphasis on women and gender-diverse people who have unique needs when it comes to a housing search and their safety in encampments,' said Lorie English, executive director of the centre. Tom Scott of the Old Saint Boniface Residents' Association urged the city to reconsider. 'Everyone can do a job, but we want Marion to do the job here,' Scott said. 'We want the province and the city to find that funding to help with that.' Street Links still receives $250,000 annually from the city to help operate its 24/7 safe space. Earlier Thursday, Housing Minister Bernadette Smith said the province will continue to work with Street Links. She had met with Willis one day earlier to discuss the matter. 'That's why our government has provided over $800,000 both last year and this year to St. Boniface Street Links through health to house Manitobans who would otherwise be at risk of living in encampments after leaving hospital. We will continue to work with St. Boniface Street Links to ensure we build the units so Manitobans can move out of encampments and into safe homes.' Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. Smith, who spoke earlier in the day at an unrelated news conference in Brandon, said MSP has found shelter for 90 per cent of people who have been housed under the new Your Way Home program. 'So I have every confidence in the work that they are doing,' Smith said, adding that MSP has been going to encampments and knows many of those who are unsheltered. Since the provincial program began, 45 people have been sheltered, of which MSP found homes for 41 of them. Smith pointed out the government is providing more than $800,000 to the women's resource centre for transitional housing units, which include wraparound supports. Scott BilleckReporter Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott. Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
19-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘We heard a scream': encampment ODs highlight city's drug, homeless crisis
What began as a routine training session for homelessness outreach workers Wednesday turned into a life-or-death emergency when two youths were found overdosing in an encampment behind the Granite Curling Club. Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, was showing her team a different part of the city — well known for its multiple encampments along the Assiniboine River — when the situation took a sudden turn. 'It was only by chance we ended up behind the Granite Curling Club, talking to some people who had small encampments there, when we heard a scream,' she said. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS The Wednesday afternoon incident in a riverbank encampment near the Granite Curling Club highlights the city's drug and homelessness crisis, Marion Willis said. The cry led them to a tent, where they found two youths who she said had overdosed on fentanyl. 'It took a considerable amount of naloxone and chest compressions to get them breathing again and keep them breathing until paramedics arrived,' Willis said. Emergency crews, including a fire engine and two ambulances, rushed to the scene. While the city declined to provide details due to privacy rules, photos and videos reviewed by the Free Press showed several responders treating the victims. Winnipeg police said they were called around 3:45 p.m. to help paramedics transport a male and a female to hospital, confirming both were youths. Willis said one of the youths became uncooperative after regaining consciousness and tried to flee. 'These were two kids,' Willis said. 'At the peak of it all, there were about 11 medical personnel there, two cruiser cars, and my team there. It was a baptism by fire for our team.' The incident highlights the city's drug and homelessness crisis, Willis said. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced the Your Way Home strategy in January, which aims to end chronic homelessness by 2031. Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, the lead on Manitoba's homelessness strategy, said Thursday the province is still on track to move 700 people out of encampments and into housing, despite sheltering only 45 people five months on. Blaikie Whitecloud said housing units are in the process of being built and blamed the former Progressive Conservative government for taking away affordable housing. She said more homes will be coming this month and over the summer, pointing to a May news release from the province that said 67 new housing units spread across three locations had been purchased for $6.4 million and will be filled with tenants in the coming months. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Tents are seen along the riverbank in the area behind the Granite Curling Club Thursday. Blaikie Whitecloud said the province expects to get a clearer picture of how many people want housing once application data comes in next week. 'It takes a lot of time to build units… we're working as quickly as we can,' she said. 'We know the growth is going to get faster… as well, we are going to have people graduating into permanent, secure housing, reconnecting with family, and that's going to create units available for what we've already brought online.' Of the 45 people currently housed through the province, 41 came through Main Street Project, which runs multiple facilities beyond its downtown shelter. Blaikie Whitecloud said outreach work is being done to ensure people in encampments are as comfortable and as safe as they can be while they await approval through the application process. 'It's the first time in the years I've been in this sector that people are having a conversation about housing being a reality for them,' said the former Siloam Mission chief executive officer. 'So there's hope.' The provincial strategy offers low-barrier housing so that people living with addictions can still be housed and receive treatment and supports. Willis and Street Links workers dismantled the encampment where the two youths who overdosed had been living. With no garbage trucks available, some debris had to be left behind overnight. When they returned Thursday morning, the camp had already been rebuilt. A woman who put the encampment back up was offered housing by Street Links, and by Thursday afternoon, she had moved into transitional housing. A portion of the cleanup was recorded and shared on Willis's Facebook page. 'She cried tears of joy,' Willis said of the woman after she made the housing offer. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, said she and her team witnessed two youths overdosing in an encampment. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. By Thursday afternoon, garbage still littered the area, and a city worker could be seen collecting discarded needles. Willis believes Winnipeg's fentanyl crisis drives its homelessness problem — and that neither issue can be solved in isolation. Al Wiebe, who has lived through homelessness and now advocates for others, called the issue multi-pronged. 'It's always more than one issue,' he said. 'Mental illness, as well, plays a big role. Many have lost housing with rising housing and food costs. Addictions are a big part of it. I feel we should get the harm reduction set up 100 per cent correctly, or don't do it until all the elements are in place.' Scott BilleckReporter Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott. Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
05-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Replacement urged for joint housing program
It WILL become almost impossible to get people out of riverbank camps and into housing now that new applicants have been shut out of a key funding program for good, say people who have worked in the field for years. In March, the Canada-Manitoba Housing benefit temporarily stopped accepting requests for funding. It offered a monthly top-up of as much as $422 for a private apartment, on top of employment income assistance. Officials with both governments confirmed Wednesday that the pause is permanent because the program is fully subscribed. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, Marion Willis: 'We can't end homelessness without this.' 'The top-up program is the only way to end homelessness. We can't end homelessness without this,' said Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links. She said her organization knows of almost a dozen housing units that are empty because people cannot afford the rent. In total, social assistance pays $638 for monthly rent. 'One of the suites we have is $995 for a one-bedroom plus hydro, another is $895 for a one-bedroom plus hydro, and there is a bachelor for $750,' Willis said. 'Nobody on benefits can afford to be in them. This (top-up) benefit allowed them to rent a place for more than $900 per month. When all we have to work with is $638 — and that has to include utilities — we can't do it.' Willis urged the provincial and federal governments to devise either an enhanced agreement or a new agreement to put a top-up program back in place for new applicants. She also urged the province to create strict rent control laws so people can continue to afford suites once they move in. Willis said people who were able to rent a suite based on submitting the top-up application have had to move out when the program suddenly closed for new applications without notice in March. 'It only adds to that sense of hopelessness people feel. As soon as you feel hopeless, the challenges become greater because people give up.' New Journey Housing executive director Codi Guenther said the program was crucial to getting people into shelter. Guenther said they have helped 648 households apply for the program since January 2022. 'We see people who can't afford private market rent, whether with low-end jobs or social assistance. Now we have to tell them the heartbreaking news there is no Canada-Manitoba benefit,' she said. 'We heard from clients who signed a lease, thinking they were going to get an extra $350 per month with this program, who then got the letter saying it was closed. That left them with a choice of taking money from food or transportation or they had to move. 'A lot of people need this help.' The program was created in 2020 by the two levels of government, who promised to spend $154.6 million over eight years, including $17.5 million in the first two years. It was intended to help about 3,300 Manitobans. 'Our government is committed to ensuring that every Canadian has a safe and affordable place to call home,' said Ahmed Hussen, who was the federal families minister at the time. Heather Stefanson, who was the provincial families minister, said 'our government is committed to providing housing to vulnerable Manitobans throughout our province.' In June 2023, 923 people were receiving monthly benefits. However, after the then-Tory government raised the maximum top-up benefit to $350 from $250, applicant numbers swelled. One year later, 3,088 Manitobans were receiving it, and a total of 4,677 people were getting it by September 2024. The program first ran out of money for new applicants last summer, but in September the provincial government added $1.7 million to the pot. The federal government did not put in additional funding. The money ran out in March and since then only people who have been approved are receiving monthly rent top-ups. The federal government released an email statement Wednesday: 'In the last year, Manitoba has experienced a significant rise in applicants, which has resulted in their decision to close the program to new intakes. This allows them to strategically focus available CMHB funding for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.' NDP MP Leah Gazan, whose Winnipeg Centre riding has some of the poorest people in the country, said the federal government's apparent lack of support for housing is one of the reasons her party announced on Wednesday it wouldn't vote for the throne speech. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 'The federal government needs to come to the table and make sure people are looked after. They go on and on in the House about the housing crisis, but they are not investing the money to get people into dignified homes and mixed kinds of homes that require support,' Gazan said Provincial Housing Minister Bernadette Smith said she has been working on the problem. 'I recently met with the new federal housing minister to advocate for the renewal of the National Housing Strategy and to emphasize the importance of ongoing funding for housing programs,' Smith said. 'Our government has increased funding for provincial rent programs, including an additional $15 million for rent assistance. We have also allocated $116 million to Manitoba Housing, reversing years of selloffs, cuts and freezes implemented by the previous provincial government. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Order of Manitoba appointees announced
The Manitobans announced as the next recipients of the province's highest honour include a hypothermia expert, the co-owner of a production company, the head of St. Boniface Street Links, an Indigenous elder, a business executive and philanthropist, and a former senator. Twelve Manitobans will receive the Order of Manitoba in a ceremony at the Manitoba Legislative Building on July 17. The order honours people 'who have demonstrated excellence and achievement, thereby enriching the social, cultural or economic well-being of the province and its residents.' One of the twelve incoming members is former University of Manitoba professor Gordon Giesbrecht, a leading authority on hypothermia, ice safety and cold-water immersion survival dubbed Professor Popsicle. Rebecca Gibson — the co-owner of Eagle Vision and an award-winning actor, writer, director and producer — will also be joining the order. Marion Willis is also being appointed. She created St. Boniface Street Links, which helps homeless people, and founded Morberg House, a transitional home for men dealing with homelessness, addiction and mental-health issues. JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES Gordon Giesbrecht. a.k.a. Professor Popsicle, beside water tanks in his office and research lab at the University of Manitoba in December 2023. Giesbrecht, who retired soon after, is being appointed to the Order of Manitoba. Ken Paupanekis, an elder from Kinosao Sipi Cree Nation (also known as Norway House), has 'tirelessly worked toward Indigenous language revitalization,' a Monday news release said. He has helped develop language programs through his fluency in Cree, Anishinaabe, English and French. Business executive and philanthropist Walter Schroeder has pledged more than $500 million to support educational causes through the Schroeder Foundation. Another appointee, Maria Chaput, was the first franco-Manitoban woman in the Senate. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The other six appointees are: fpcity@
