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CALL FOR PROPOSALS – New Builds, Conversions, or Expansions

For Transitional and Permanent Supportive Housing

NOW OPEN

To enable communities to respond to the need for housing, End Homelessness Winnipeg, in consultation with the Community Advisory Board and Service Canada, is accepting applications from organizations interested in obtaining financial assistance to achieve specific Reaching Home priority activities to meet the need of those experiencing homelessness.

The intent of this Call for Proposals is to increase the number of low barrier transitional and permanent supportive housing units, in Winnipeg, for people who are experiencing homelessness. Stable housing provides a platform to provide supports to those who have experienced chronic and episodic homelessness.

Capital investments are intended to increase the capacity or improve the quality of facilities that address the needs of individuals and families who are homeless.

Funding can be used to create additional transitional and permanent supportive housing spaces/units through:
• new builds or
• expansion or conversion of existing non-residential space or buildings.
Eligible projects:
• will increase the number of new low barrier transitional or permanent supportive housing spaces/units for people experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg.

Click here for 2023-2024 Capital Application – New Builds
Click here for 2023-2024 EHW-RH Capital – New Builds Application Guide
Click here for 2023-2024 CFP – Details – Capital – New Builds
Click here for 2023-2024 Reaching Home Capital Budget – New Builds
Click here for 2023-2024 Reaching Home Capital Project Budget – New Builds
Click here for WAGE-SUMMARY-2023-2024

CALL FOR PROPOSALS – CAPITAL PROJECTS

FOR TRANSITIONAL AND PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING

 REPAIRS, RENOVATIONS AND RENEWALS TO EXISTING STRUCTURES

NOW OPEN

In consultation with the Community Advisory Board and Service Canada, End Homelessness Winnipeg is now accepting applications from organizations for capital projects that will preserve and/or renew housing transitional and permanent supportive housing spaces in Winnipeg and will enhance accessibility of existing facilities. 

Capital investments are intended to increase the capacity or improve the quality of facilities that address the needs of individuals and families who are homeless. Priorities are for Capital projects that preserve and renew housing stock, create new units, and enhance accessibility.

Funding for this call for proposals is specific to projects that will repair, renovate and renew existing transitional and/or permanent supportive housing units (may not necessarily create new space).

ELIGIBLE PROJECTS:

• will preserve and/or renew existing transitional and/or permanent supportive housing units.
• must demonstrate the need for repair, renovation, renewal and the plan for ongoing maintenance of this renovation/upgrade after the project is completed.
• must not displace current occupants.

Transitional Housing is defined as “Housing that offers a supportive living environment for its residents, including offering them the experience, tools, knowledge and opportunities for social and skill development to become more independent. It is an intermediate step and has formalized limits on how long an individual or family can stay. Limits are typically between three months and three years.”

Permanent Supportive Housing is defined as “Housing that provides a physical environment that is specifically designed to be safe, secure and empowering with support services available to tenants and coordinated through a formally established organization.  Support services can include social services, provision of meals, housekeeping and social and recreational activities, in order to maximize residents’ independence, privacy and dignity.  Housing that combines rental or housing assistance with individualized, and flexible support services for people with high needs related to physical and/or mental health, developmental disabilities or substance use. At minimum, single tenants must have a private bedroom.”

A sustainability plan is required for all capital projects.  For projects that will not add new beds/units or create/expand services, the sustainability plan must demonstrate that the equipment or facility will remain in use as intended over the long term to ensure that the benefit of the project will continue. The plan should provide the funding details, for five (5) years after the project’s completion, for the operation and maintenance expenses of the facility and related services provided to people who live in the building.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS:

Organizations that:

• provide services to individuals that are experiencing homelessness.
• are a registered not-for-profit and/or registered charity in Canada.
• are currently receiving funding from Reaching Home, as well as organizations that do not currently receive Reaching Home funding.
• serve neighbourhoods, within Winnipeg
• will accept referrals from Naatamooskakowin – Coordinated Access. For more information visit: https://endhomelessnesswinnipeg.ca/coordinated-access
• Joint Submissions, partnerships and coalitions are eligible and if awarded funding, require a single party to take responsibility for the contractual relationship with the End Homelessness Winnipeg.
• Multiple Submissions – An organization can submit multiple applications. Each project must have its own applications and will be judged on its own merit. As such, an individual project should not be dependent on another also being funded by Reaching Home.

Eligible activities:

• Renovation of existing transitional housing and
• Renovation of existing permanent supportive housing
• Renovations, repairs, renewal and upgrades an existing facility to meet building standards.
• Eligible costs related to professional fees, such as consultants, audit, technical expertise, facilitation, legal, and construction contractors, and capital costs of the purchase of a land or building.

Ineligible activities include:

• Construction and renovation of housing units funded through the bilateral Housing Partnership Framework agreement with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and most provinces/territories.
• Investments in social housing, including:
  • Repairs to social housing units
  • Renovation of social housing units; and
  • Creation of social housing units

Click here for 2023-2024 Capital Application – Renovations
Click here for 2023-2024 EHW-RH Capital – Renovations Application Guide
Click here for 2023-2024 CFP – Details – Capital – Renovation
Click here for 2023-2024 Reaching Home Capital Operating Budget – Renovation
Click here for 2023-2024 Reaching Home Capital Project Budget – Renovation
Click here for WAGE-SUMMARY-2023-2024

Kíkinanaw Óma – A Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers was created in collaboration with a group facilitated by End Homelessness Winnipeg. The Strategy group includes representation from the City of Winnipeg, first responders, outreach workers, homeless-serving agencies and people with lived experience of homelessness. The name Kíkinanaw Óma can be translated as “This is our Home Here” from Cree. Elder Belinda Vandenbroeck gifted this name to the Strategy.

The Strategy was released in June 2020, offering context on unsheltered homelessness and encampments in Winnipeg and providing an overview of the work of the Kíkinanaw Óma Strategy group over the previous year. This work involved development of an Interim Strategy that makes trained peer and outreach workers, rather than police, the first point of contact for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The Strategy group also released a Media Toolkit for Reporting on Homelessness and a Guide for Winnipeg residents on What to Do if encountering someone experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

Since the release of the Strategy, rapid progress has been made on some of its six recommendations, while barriers have emerged to the implementation of others. The COVID-19 pandemic increased urgency for addressing unsheltered homelessness, building broad awareness that housing is health care. However, COVID-19 also increased the visibility of unsheltered homelessness in Winnipeg. Outreach services expanded and work in ever-closer collaboration, supported by strong relationships with first responders when emergencies arise. New and expanded Safe Spaces emerged, and several new housing initiatives began to address key gaps in Winnipeg’s housing continuum that contribute to unsheltered homelessness. Yet need may be outpacing the construction of these developments, while rising housing costs continue to keep safe homes out of reach for many.

The one-year anniversary of Kíkinanaw Óma in 2021 offered an opportunity to reflect on progress and reaffirm next steps toward ending unsheltered homelessness in Winnipeg. A 1-Year Report to the community was launched in July 2021. A virtual community event was held to discuss the report and progress on key recommendations of the Strategy on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. You can watch a video from that event here. Also in July 2021, the City of Winnipeg formalized its role in the Interim Strategy through the Encampment Support Process outlined on the city’s website.

The two-year anniversary of Kíkinanaw Óma in 2022 has brought another chance to evaluate progress and next steps for ending unsheltered homelessness in Winnipeg. A 2-Year Report to the community, launched in July 2022, reveals that while unsheltered homelessness has decreased since the winter of 2021-2022, emergency shelter capacity is at an all-time high, pointing to the ongoing need for low-income, low-barrier, and Indigenous-led housing options.

Additional Information

• 2022 Kíkinanaw Óma Unsheltered Strategy 2-Year Report (.pdf)
• 2021 Presentation on Kíkinanaw Óma for the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness National Conference (YouTube)
• 2021 Kíkinanaw Óma Unsheltered Strategy 1-Year Report (.pdf)
• 2021 Guide – What to Do if encountering someone who may be experiencing unsheltered Homelessness (.pdf)
  • The Guide is also available in .png format
  • The Guide is also available in .pdf format on a white background
• 2021 Media Toolkit for Reporting on Homelessness (.pdf)
• 2020 Kíkinanaw Óma – A Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers (.pdf)

End Homelessness Winnipeg initiated an Extreme Weather Response Committee in 2016, to coordinate homeless-centred strategies for keeping Winnipeggers safer during hazardous weather conditions. The Committee included representatives from emergency shelters, outreach services, drop-ins, municipal and provincial departments, and Environment and Climate Change Canada. In 2022, the Extreme Weather Response Committee merged with the COVID-19 Response for Winnipeg’s homeless-serving sectors, to form a Homelessness Emergency Response Committee that plans for and addresses emergent issues related to extreme weather, climate change, public health crises, and service disruptions such as building failures, construction and moves, among providers of essential homelessness services including mobile outreach, drop-ins, shelters and safe spaces.

Additional Information

• 2022 Summer Resource Guide (.pdf)
• 2022 Plain Language Summer Safety Tip Sheet (.pdf)
• Graphic – signs and responses for heat exhaustion and heat stroke (.jpg)
• Poster – signs and responses for frostbite and hypothermia (.pdf)

Past Extreme Weather Response Plans

• 2021-2022 Extreme Weather Response Plan (.pdf)
• 2020-2021 Winter Weather Response Plan (.pdf)
• 2020 Extreme Heat Response Plan (.pdf)
• 2019-2020 Extreme Cold Weather Response Plan (.pdf)
• 2019 Extreme Heat Response Plan (.pdf)
• 2018-2019 Extreme Cold Weather Response Plan (.pdf)
• 2017-2018 Cold Weather Response Plan (.pdf)