Students tasked with designing shelter for homeless

Concerned about the state of empathy at her suburban high school, a St. Vital teacher has tasked teens with designing transitional homes for their unsheltered neighbours.

Collège Jeanne-Sauvé made headlines in September when a student was involved in an altercation with a man living in nearby Dakota Forest.

Winnipeg police and the Louis Riel School Division reported at the time the man came out of a tent and chased after a group of students, injuring one. Allegations the teenagers provoked the man by hurling insults and items at the man’s tent were also reported.

The Sept. 9 incident — as well as the gossip in its aftermath — led Kay Wojnarski to reach out to End Homelessness Winnipeg for advice.

“I want my students to become proficient with design and how to use digital tools that are at their disposal,” said Wojnarski, who teaches design, media and animation courses.

“But, overall, I want them to be kind, caring people.”

With those goals in mind, she and her students have dedicated an ongoing unit to learning about their city’s active plans to expand supportive housing.

A handful of city-owned properties have been selected for rezoning. If all goes according to plan, affordable housing units with wraparound supports, such as on-site social workers, will be built on the lots.

Grades 10 and 11 students have been reviewing satellite images of 75 Poseidon Bay — the southernmost site located closest to their school.

Grade 10 student Sarina Ramuscak said the project, along with a recent snowstorm, has her thinking about how Winnipeggers without a safe, comfortable and warm place to live are feeling at this time of year.

”I just wish there was more (supportive housing) already,” Sarina said.

The 15-year-old said she hopes students’ designs can prove useful when it comes to the real world construction of these sites.

End Homelessness Winnipeg is planning to feature their assignment in an upcoming newsletter.

The organization’s housing supply manager visited the class this fall to share his expertise. Justin Quigley spoke about the complex causes and symptoms of poverty and who might take up tenancy in a supportive housing residence.

Wojnarski also screened Someone Lives Here, a documentary about an Ontario carpenter’s efforts to house people in tiny shelters, to expose her students to relevant case studies.

Duos and trios have since been drafting blueprints with 20 to 25 private residential units, communal spaces and designated areas for on-call support workers to use.

They’ve received marching orders to ensure their facilities are accessible and welcoming to wheelchair users and tenants with varying mobility needs.

Sarina’s group has identified a game room, library and garden as essential.

“Whenever somebody comes over, I’ll play a board game with them. That really makes me feel at home — playing games with people and having fun. It’s a comfort thing,” the Grade 10 student said.

“Everybody needs that sense of comfort and community in their home.”

The multi-step project involves submitting hand-drawn designs, creating 3D models using SketchUp software and recording a virtual tour of their final facility.

Students are anticipated to present their models to the class after the winter break.

Taelon Trudeau, 15, said he’s been busying himself with trying to figure out how to make his designs homey rather than hotel-like.

It’s important that residents have somewhere private to freshen up, cook meals and do laundry, as well as a place to play card games and relax, even if their stay is short, the Grade 10 student said.

“When I’m building, I’m thinking about how, if I were in that situation, I’d want to design it to make it as comfortable as possible — to look like home to me,” he said.

The teenager has been eyeing Red River College Polytechnic’s architecture program. As far as he’s concerned, the more experience he has designing real-world projects, the better prepared he’ll be to pursue a career in design.

Taelon is both an outlier and resource for his classmates, given he regularly volunteers at 1JustCity.

What’s stood out to Wojnarski is how seriously her students are taking this project when it comes to prioritizing the needs of tenants.

It’s a heartwarming and stark contrast to some of the stigmatizing comments she heard teenagers make at the start of the term, she said.

“We talk a lot in my class about how we should care about other people — we shouldn’t assume the worst of them and believe that, if someone is in a situation of homelessness, that they deserve it,” the teacher said.

LRSD administration pledged to investigate allegations that teenagers were hurling insults and items at the man’s tent.

The division’s findings have yet to be shared with the grades 9-12 community.

Police confirmed no charges were laid against a homeless man who reportedly confronted a teenager and suffered scratches.

Sarina said the confrontation, as well as online commentary about bad student behaviour within the community, “made me really sick to my stomach.”

“Not all CJS kids are like that,” she added.

Wojnarski noted that staff members discussed the importance of humanizing the homelessness crisis and building understanding in their respective classrooms after the incident.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca