End Homelessness Winnipeg

Together we can end homelessness in Winnipeg

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Posted: Filed Under: Media

“A year after Kíkinanaw Óma – A Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers was released by End Homelessness Winnipeg and its project partners, organizers say community groups have made progress on a handful of key initiatives, but there is still plenty of action left to be taken.

End Homelessness Winnipeg, in collaboration with the City of Winnipeg, first responders, outreach workers, social agencies, and people with lived experience, released the strategy in June 2020.

Kíkinanaw Óma, meaning ‘This is our Home Here’ in Cree, outlined six recommendations for supporting individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness or living in encampments.

The strategy calls for more housing, increased income supports, coordinated access between groups, enhanced outreach, additional 24-7 safe spaces, and to continue the interim strategy and a rights-based approach while implementing the other recommendations.”

Read more from the Winnipeg Free Press: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/times/Strategy-outlines-progress-on-homelessness-crisis-574802161.html

Posted: Filed Under: Events

On Wednesday, July 7, 2021 community members gathered virtually to hear about progress and challenges in supporting unsheltered Winnipeggers during the year since the Kíkinanaw Óma Strategy was launched at the end of June 2020. Speakers included:

  • Isabel Daniels – Velma’s House
  • Jacob Kaufman – Main Street Project Van Patrol Outreach
  • Melissa Stone – Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, Astum Api Niikinaahk
  • Kirsten Bernas and Kris Clemens – Co-chairs, Kíkinanaw Óma Strategy

Download the Kíkinanaw Óma Unsheltered Strategy 1-Year Report (.pdf)

Posted: Filed Under: Community Blog

End Homelessness Winnipeg Newsletter:
July 2021
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Kíkinanaw Óma Strategy: 1 Year Later
Kíkinanaw Óma: A Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers was released in June 2020. The one-year anniversary of Kíkinanaw Óma offers the opportunity to reflect on progress and reaffirm next steps toward ending unsheltered homelessness in Winnipeg. Please join us this Wednesday, July 7 from 7-8pm to hear from community members on progress and challenges in supporting unsheltered Winnipeggers during the year since the Kíkinanaw Óma Strategy was launched. Speakers will include:Isabel Daniels – Velma’s HouseJacob Kaufman – Main Street Project Van Patrol OutreachMelissa Stone – Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, Astum Api NiikinaahkKirsten Bernas and Kris Clemens – Co-chairs, Kíkinanaw Óma Strategy. Register Now

Extreme Weather Response Plan and Resource Guide
Just ahead of Winnipeg’s most recent heat wave, End Homelessness Winnipeg released the 2021 Extreme Weather Response Plan and Summer Resource Guide on Wednesday, June 30.  The Extreme Weather Response Plan is a homeless-centred plan for keeping Winnipeggers safer during extreme weather events including heat, cold, and storms. The Plan is developed, implemented and monitored by the Extreme Weather Response Committee, a group that brings together emergency shelters, community organizations, first responders, and public service agencies. The Plan sets out stakeholder roles and responsibilities; offers prevention and response information for weather-related risks; and lists resources available in the community.

Canada Manitoba Housing Benefit
As of July 1, End Homelessness Winnipeg administers the Canada-Manitoba Housing Benefit (CMHB) homelessness stream. The CMHB is a portable shelter benefit. Eligible recipients are renters in core housing need: experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness and connected with a housing support program. This stream is designed to support independence and provide safe and stable housing. Find out more here.

Manitoba Housing Needs and Priorities Survey
The province has launched an online survey to gather feedback from Manitobans on housing needs, priorities and solutions, as it embarks on consultations with the public and stakeholders to inform its second three-year action plan for housing for 2022-23 to 2024-25. The priorities identified will build on those identified in the first action plan and help direct funding. You can view the action plan for 2019-20 to 2021-22 here. To participate in the online survey and provide feedback on housing needs, priorities and solutions, visit https://engagemb.ca/mb-housing.

Vote Housing
National housing and homelessness organizations have partnered to launch Vote Housing: a national non-partisan campaign with a simple but ambitious goal: engaging thousands of Canadians across the country to  ensure that policies to end homelessness and housing need are prioritized in the next federal election and by the next federal government. The campaign platform calls for six actionable policies that political parties should include in their platforms. The first one is to “Implement an urban, rural, and northern Indigenous housing strategy containing both dedicated investments and an Indigenous-led governance structure.” Learn more and pledge to Vote Housing here. 

Ekosani, Miigwetch, Maarsii, Thank you!

Posted: Filed Under: Media

“Winnipeg’s number of counted homeless individuals is the highest compared to its overall population.

Winnipeg’s Community Task Force to End Homelessness formed End Homelessness Winnipeg in May 2015. Lissie Rappaport, the manager of housing supply at End Homelessness Winnipeg, told The Pigeon founding members felt the need for an organization whose sole purpose is to ensure the homeless population has a voice.”

Read more from The Pigeon: https://the-pigeon.ca/2021/06/08/winnipeg-unhoused-support/

Posted: Filed Under: Community Blog

End Homelessness Winnipeg Newsletter:
June 2021
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Indigenous History Month: Every Child Matters
June is Indigenous History Month. This year, as we grieve the loss of 215 children whose remains were discovered near the Kamloops Indian Residential School, and share our deepest condolences with the children’s families and communities, and the relations of all residential school survivors, we can also deepen our understanding of the impacts of residential schools on Indigenous communities as described in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) reports. 

The Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada describes the link from residential schools to the exclusion of Indigenous people from housing today.  This recent article by Dr. Marcia Anderson outlines the connections between residential schools and racism in our current health care systems, pointing to the critical relationship between housing and health. The National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health has traced the legacy of residential schools within the current child welfare crisis and ongoing removal of Indigenous children from their homes and communities across Canada: a significant inflow to youth homelessness. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation offers many more teaching resources and provides the 24/7 Residential School Survivor Support Line: 1-866-925-4419.

End Homelessness Winnipeg is an Indigenous organization committed to the TRC Calls to Action and a vision for a world where every child has a safe place to call home.  

Hot Weather Resources
This past weekend, partners in the Extreme Weather Response Committee facilitated by End Homelessness Winnipeg were kept busy adapting to unseasonably extreme heat. While the extreme heat event has passed, temperatures continue to be higher than normal this week.  Current COVID-19 restrictions have been relaxed by the province until June 12, allowing the City of  Winnipeg to open many spray pads and provide other cooling options. Still, it can be a challenge to know where to cool off. Download, print and share this Spring Resource Guide listing shelters, safe spaces, drop-ins and outreach services, as well as places with toilets and bagged meals/water. Resources and updates are also posted on End Homelessness Winnipeg’s Facebook and Twitter. Keep cool and stay safe!

Hiring: Youth Communications Specialist-Canada Summer Jobs
End Homelessness Winnipeg is hiring a youth Communications Specialist through the Canada Summer Jobs program. This is a term position for 9 weeks, 30 hours per week, with a proposed start date of Monday, July 5, 2021. Application deadline is Thursday, June 10. For details, please click here.

Ekosani, Miigwetch, Maarsii, Thank you!