Addressing homelessness and toxic drug use

Winnipeg is facing a housing and toxic drug crisis that is not going away. Every day, we see the consequences — people living without safe homes, encampments in neighbourhoods and public spaces, increasingly toxic drugs, overdoses and emergency services stretched to their limits.

These are symptoms of a deeper crisis of inter-generational trauma related to colonization of the original peoples of these lands, compounded by a crisis in housing, income security, mental health and addictions services and the availability of community based supports.

Winnipeg’s next city council must decide whether it is prepared to invest in solutions that address the root causes.

Weaving a Better Winnipeg: The Alternative Municipal Budget 2026, proposes a five-point action plan that would put housing, outreach, human rights and Indigenous leadership at the centre of Winnipeg’s response.

First, the supply of social housing needs to increase dramatically. End Homelessness Winnipeg’s 2024 street census found almost 2,500 people in Winnipeg are experiencing chronic homelessness, 80 per cent of whom are Indigenous. The alternative budget joins the Right to Housing Coalition to call on the city and province to create at least 3,000 new units of social housing in Winnipeg, with supports, over four years.

Housing is the foundation. Without a safe and affordable place to live, it is extraordinarily difficult to address mental and physical health, problematic substance use, employment or other challenges. This means building new housing, preserving affordable rooming houses, renovating vacant buildings and supporting people to remain housed in the private market.

The plan also proposes $10 million annually to help non-profit and Indigenous housing providers acquire at-risk or recently vacant rental properties. The new Canada Rental Protection Fund, to be administered by the Canada Housing Acquisition Fund, is an opportunity to ensure existing affordable or low-income housing stays that way.

Second, Winnipeg needs substantially more outreach. Outreach workers bridge the gap between people living on the streets and the services they need. They build trust-based relationships to help people obtain identification, access income assistance and health care, connect with substance use treatment, find shelter and move toward permanent and sustained housing. They also provide wellness checks, food, water, harm reduction supplies and emergency assistance.

But existing outreach services simply aren’t enough to meet the need. The alternative municipal budget calls for a major expansion of outreach teams, including specialized workers in mental health, harm reduction, trauma and housing, led mainly by Indigenous organizations.

This is about reaching people before an emergency becomes a crisis — and ensuring that people experiencing homelessness have someone they can trust to help them navigate the system.

Third, Winnipeg needs a human rights approach to encampments — people need safe places to live. Encampments should not be dismantled unless residents have access to safe and appropriate housing or shelter that meets core housing needs. Where encampments remain, the city should provide basic services such as water, washrooms, garbage collection, harm reduction and emergency health supports.

Fourth, urban Indigenous organizations need to be at the centre of the response. Indigenous people make up a disproportionate share of Winnipeg’s unhoused population. The alternative budget proposes allocating at least one per cent of new dollars of the city’s budget to Indigenous-led organizations as a start, including significant investment in Indigenous-led housing and outreach.

This is not simply about funding existing programs differently. Indigenous-led organizations bring cultural knowledge, community relationships and approaches that connect housing with healing, family, culture and community. To put reconciliation into action, Indigenous-led organizations need adequate funding. Finally, Winnipeg cannot solve homelessness alone because the city does not control the key tools required to end homelessness. The Province of Manitoba controls the largest share of those tools — the potential to increase funding for deeply affordable housing, Crown housing provider Manitoba Housing and Rent Assist, Employment and Income Assistance as well as health and problematic substance services. The province has made significant new investments, but they remain smaller than the scale and growth of homelessness.

The city can be a powerful advocate and partner, pressing the province to increase investments and meet its responsibility to ensure people have the income, housing and health supports they need, more quickly than the province’s 2031 commitment to end chronic homelessness.

This five-point plan is part of a larger vision for Winnipeg. The alternative municipal budget argues that we cannot address today’s challenges while continuing to underfund the public services and community infrastructure that make a city healthy and safe. Budgets are ultimately about what we value and are willing to invest in.

Kate Kehler is the executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and Molly McCracken is the Manitoba director at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Weaving a Better Winnipeg: The Alternative Municipal Budget 2026 can be found at www.policyalternatives.ca.