People in Disraeli encampment waiting for housing amid concerns about safety, bike chop shop in area

CBC

6 hours ago

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People living in encampments along Winnipeg's Disraeli Freeway say they want to find housing, but options are limited, even as a provincial outreach program aims to move people out of camps and into permanent shelter.
Meanwhile, police say they are investigating reports of illegal activity related to the camps, including a bicycle chop shop, and a cultural organization that's been in the area for decades is considering relocating.
Maxine Wood says she has been homeless for about four years and has been staying in an encampment on a grassy fenced-in lot next to the Manitoba Métis Federation building for about two months.
More than 20 people are living there, she said.
"Even if we try to get a home, we can't. It's so hard," said Wood.
Lisa Gott, another person living in the camp, said she has been in the camp since the weather warmed up.
"Everybody knows each other and we're all neighbours," she said.
But both she and Wood said they would like to find housing, and have support workers trying to help them, but so far no one has offered them a place to stay.
"We need housing — like, we need help," Wood said. "It hurts my heart to even say that, but we do. It's so sad to see these people like that."
Wood said she often worries about the safety of people in her camp, including those at risk from taking drugs, and other activity in the area.
"Being here, it is so hectic. It's chaos around here," she said.
In a separate encampment near Gott and Wood's, bike parts and partially dismantled bicycles could be seen between tents and covering the open ground Wednesday.
In a brief email statement, Winnipeg police spokesperson Ally Cox told CBC News the police service is investigating reports of a chop shop in the camp.
$20M strategy
Earlier this year, the Manitoba government announced a two-year, $20-million strategy to end chronic homelessness. The Your Way Home plan calls for the province to buy housing units, while partnering with outreach agencies to go camp to camp, moving people into housing and dismantling the camps.
Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, Premier Wab Kinew's senior adviser on homelessness, told CBC outreach teams — including the Downtown Community Safety Partnership — have visited the Disraeli-area camps, while Main Street Project has taken the lead on trying to find housing for the people living there.
Main Street Project declined a request for comment on this story
The province is working on rebuilding the supply of affordable housing, after the former Progressive Conservative provincial government sold off more social housing units than it built during its time in power, she said.
"We're making those investments, and working as quickly as possible to move people from encampments into housing."
Since January, the province has housed 45 people who were living in encampments, said Blaikie Whitecloud.
Across the street from the encampments, Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre executive director Brad Salyn said the organization has had to ask people camping on its property to leave.
In the past, people coming to the building have been assaulted, vehicles have been broken into and the building has been vandalized, he said.
Although the organization has been in its location since the 1970s, Salyn said it's now thinking about relocating.
"There has been, you know, considerable conversation over the last decade for sure, seeing how the safety in the area has gone. But there has been a lot of pride in this area too, because the organization has been here for so long," he said.
Blaikie Whitecloud said the safety of Manitobans "is our number 1 priority — that includes those living in encampments."
She also said there are a number of resources people in the area can call if they have concerns about the camps.
Anyone who sees someone who appears to be in distress, but is not a risk to other people, can call 211, the province's hotline for health and social service information, she said, while concerns around potential criminal activity or safety due to needles or other debris should be made with the city's 311 service.
If someone may be in imminent danger, the call should be made to 911, she said.