That No One Is Left Behind
Statement by End Homelessness Winnipeg on World Homeless Day 2025, October 10, 2025
Today, on World Homeless Day, we are reminded that homelessness is not confined to what we see on the streets. It includes those whose struggles remain hidden. People sleeping in cars, doubled up in overcrowded apartments, staying temporarily with friends, or enduring unsafe living conditions. These stories are harder to witness, easier to overlook, yet they are part of a growing crisis that continues to shape our city.
The 2024 Winnipeg Street Census revealed that 2,469 people are experiencing homelessness in our community, nearly double the number recorded in 2022. It is the highest count in ten years. Of these, almost eighty percent identified as Indigenous, a reflection of the ongoing systemic inequities that trace back generations. Behind every figure is a person whose story speaks of loss, resilience, and a system that has not yet done enough to catch them.
Homelessness is rarely caused by a single event. It is often the result of overlapping pressures: the high cost of housing, low income, eviction, trauma, discrimination, untreated mental health challenges, or a lack of support after leaving systems like foster care, hospitals, or correctional facilities. In the Street Census, people most often cited low income, eviction, and substance use among the main reasons they lost their housing. When these pressures converge, they form a web that can pull anyone under.
And yet, in the midst of this, there are people who refuse to let others slip through the cracks. Across Winnipeg, outreach workers, shelter staff, Indigenous service providers, and volunteers show up each day to meet people where they are at. They listen. They provide warmth, food, and connection. They do this often without recognition, but their work is what keeps many from being completely lost. Today, we acknowledge their commitment and compassion. They stand in the gap where policy ends and humanity begins.
At End Homelessness Winnipeg, our work is to bring people and systems together; to turn collaboration into solutions, to help ensure that every person has a place to belong. The partnerships forming across this sector are powerful. Organizations share knowledge, resources, and data. Governments, community groups, and lived-experience leaders are aligning their efforts to address the crisis more effectively. It is not easy work, but it is necessary, and it is beginning to take shape.
Still, we must do more. Governments must build and preserve deeply affordable and supportive housing. Income supports must reflect the reality of today’s cost of living. Evictions must be prevented before they happen. Mental health and addictions services must be accessible to everyone who needs them. Data must be used to drive policy, not justify inaction. And we, as a community, must continue to see homelessness not as someone else’s problem, but as our shared responsibility.
The 2024 Street Census and other community reports have made the situation clear: homelessness is rising, and without bold, coordinated action, it will continue to grow. But this day is not only about crisis. It is also about possibility. Every individual, organization, and level of government has a role to play. We can choose to build homes instead of shelters, to fund prevention instead of emergency response, and to listen rather than assume.
If you are reading this, you can make a difference. Speak up for housing that everyone can afford. Support local organizations working directly with people who are unhoused. Learn about hidden homelessness and help bring it into the open. Each action, no matter how small, contributes to a collective shift toward dignity and belonging.
Homelessness is not inevitable. It is a problem created by systems and choices, and it can be solved by systems and choices made differently. On this World Homeless Day, we renew our commitment to a future where every person in Winnipeg, and everywhere else, has a place to call home.
End Homelessness Winnipeg