Ottawa pledges $27.3M for End Homelessness Winnipeg

The Canadian government is investing an additional $27.3 million to help support the homeless in Winnipeg.

The funds are going to the group End Homelessness Winnipeg, which helps provide supports to those helping the city’s most vulnerable.

“The unfortunate reality is we just have so much need out there,” said Jason Whitford, president and CEO of End Homelessness Winnipeg.

The money comes from Ottawa’s “Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.”

“This is incremental for a lot of people,” said Ben Carr, the MP for Winnipeg South Centre. “Homelessness isn’t something that necessarily happens overnight, but it’s something that happens on a continuum.”

The additional multi-million-dollar investment brings the total from 2019 through 2028 to just over $178 million – funds that will go towards supporting more than 40 organizations and nearly 50 programs that are focused on housing first, support services, prevention, emergency response and capital.

“These investments ensure that those most affected, including Indigenous people, families, youth, and individuals facing complex barriers receive the unique support that they need,” Whitford said.

The End Homelessness Winnipeg president adds funding strengthens their ability to focus on creating more innovative strategies that will help people who are coming out of the justice system, child welfare, or migrating to the city stay off the streets.

“If we’re ever going to end chronic homelessness in our city, we have to slow the flow into homelessness,” Whitford said.

He adds this will also be crucial in addressing systemic inequalities, with Winnipeg’s Indigenous population representing 75 per cent of those experiencing homelessness.