Advocates raise alarm as Winnipeg set to introduce encampment restrictions

Advocates are sounding the alarm as the city looks to roll out new encampment restrictions that may force them to leave, with nowhere to go, as emergency housing might not have enough room for them.

The City of Winnipeg rolled out its encampment protocol on Monday. It aims at restricting encampments in public spaces.

Starting November 17, encampments located on sensitive public property will be cleared.

According to the city, the encampments are home to 700 Winnipeggers.

“Homelessness has gotten worse. But so does poverty. That’s why homelessness has gotten worse. We know, across Canada, it actually doubled, and the unsheltered encampments situation has quadrupled,” said Kate Kehler, the executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.

Kehler says restricting the encampments is not addressing the root cause, which she believes lies in racialized poverty.

“We know that the majority of people who are staying in these encampments are racialized. So this is the problem, the ongoing problem of poverty, and how racialized the poverty is. That’s what is leading to the situation. So instead of doing something about poverty, the city is enacting a bylaw that will just make the life conditions so much harder for folks,” said Kehler.

Mike Hawkins lives at an encampment and says that if the city clears out his space, he might not have a place to go. He is concerned for his safety if he stays at an overnight shelter.

“They talk about making things better, safer for people. What about better and safer for the poor and the people that are homeless? Because these places where people stay at, you’re not really safe there,” said Hawkins.

Mayor Scott Gillingham says, “If they haven’t been spoken to about housing, we’ll make sure that they’ll get connected with the agencies, the frontline providers, that are connecting homeless people, unhoused people to housing.”