Winnipeg, MB – The Preliminary 2022 Balanced Budget Update contains important investments to support people living in unsheltered homelessness. Vulnerable persons remain a priority in the Preliminary 2022 Balanced Budget Update and new investments have been proposed alongside previous commitments.
“Council passed its first ever Poverty Reduction Strategy in November, and even before it passed, advocates including people with lived experience in unsheltered homelessness were calling on the City to make the investments needed to implement poverty reduction,” said Sherri Rollins, Chairperson of the Standing Policy Committee on Protection, Community Services and Parks. “The Preliminary 2022 Balanced Budget Update initiates work in earnest with new investments and staying the course on previous poverty work of Council.”
Greater collaboration with the community is critical to address the complex challenges those who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness face. A key addition to this year’s Preliminary 2022 Balanced Budget Update proposes $1.1 million in funding over two years, with the goal to connect those experiencing unsheltered homelessness with the services they need. The funding will also support mobile outreach services such as transportation to emergency shelters, the distribution of basic necessities, harm reduction supplies, and wellbeing checks.
To support the dignity and safety of our most vulnerable, the Preliminary 2022 Balanced Budget Update also proposes an investment of $580,000 over two years ($290,000 in each of 2022 and 2023) is proposed to support the operation of public washrooms within the Downtown. This investment includes a $250,000 grant so that the public washroom can include a space for Peer Support to help address community needs.
The City will continue to support and work closely with End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW) and the 5-Year Plan to End Homelessness by continuing to provide them with an annual operating grant of $150,000. In addition to direct funding, the City will continue its work with EHW through working groups like the Extreme Weather Response Committee and the Kikininaw-Oma Strategy to Support Unsheltered Winnipeggers.
The City’s first-ever Poverty Reduction Strategy was passed by Council on November 25, 2021. To support this important work, $500,000 of funding over two years has been included for staff to support the delivery of the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) funding that the City has received from the federal government. In the last two years, the City received over $25 million in RHI funding to create a minimum of 100 affordable housing units. These projects are underway, and some are projected to be ready for occupancy in December 2021. This is being done alongside the creation of the 24/7 Safe Space Grant Program which is delivering $1 million over four years to Ka Ni Kanichihk’s Velma’s House and Spence Neighbourhood Association’s West End 24-Hour Safe Space, projects that address needs in the community.
There is also a proposed increase of $250,000 in the grant to Oshki Annishinabe Nigaaniwak – the City of Winnipeg’s Indigenous Youth Strategy. The grant money will support the implementation of the strategy and the two areas of priority focus (termed Life Poles): Indigenous Children, Youth and Families, and Affordable Housing. These investments build on the historic three-year, $50 million towards the Recreation and Library Investment Strategy included in the 2021 Balanced Budget Update that makes recreation investments in high need areas of the city and was a critical recommendation of the Illicit Drug Task Force Report.
“We will continue to work with our government and community partners to ensure there is continued access to mobile outreach services and enough safe spaces for those experiencing unsheltered homelessness, all year-round,” said Rollins. “These important investments support our city’s most vulnerable, and are all vital steps to ensure no Winnipegger is left behind.”