Winnipeg homeless census returns after pandemic hiatus

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This article was published 24/05/2022 (849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Crews took to the city Wednesday in an effort to count the homeless population for the 2022 Winnipeg Street Census.

It’s the third initiative of its kind led by End Homelessness Winnipeg. Data collected provides a demographics snapshot of people experiencing homelessness.

Findings will highlight the city’s crisis level and could lay groundwork on how to address housing needs and prevent future homelessness, said Jason Whitford, chief executive officer of End Homelessness Winnipeg.

“(I’m hoping this) brings truth to the reality of the individuals… that are experiencing homelessness.”

Roughly 200 volunteers, and partner organizations such as Main Street Project and St. Boniface Street Links, set out to conduct interviews with people they met on the street.

The surveyors planned to work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Volunteers trekked through downtown and St. Boniface, among other areas.

End Homelessness Winnipeg will compile the surveys with data community organizations and government agencies have provided. A final report will be out in October, Whitford said.

“There’s going to be an increase,” he said of the local homeless population.

The census has been delayed two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2018, 1,519 people were experiencing homelessness, according to End Homelessness Winnipeg’s count.

The pandemic has likely exacerbated the issue, Whitford said.

“Service resources were closing their doors due to safety and well-being of the workforce,” he said. “(People) couldn’t find help. You’d have individuals that’d be on the cusp of homelessness, and it would push them over the edge, that lack of resources.”

Couch surfers no longer could bounce between relatives’ and friends’ places, Whitford noted.

Norville Tait said he lost his West End home in 2020, after losing his job. He’s been travelling from shelter to shelter since.

“It’s been a living hell,” he said Wednesday, outside N’Dinawemak, a shelter where End Homelessness Winnipeg held its news conference.

The centre was created last year in response to the high number of nearby encampments.

“I can’t seem to get out of (this) situation,” said Tait, 47. “I feel like I’m still stuck in that stage of when COVID-19 first hit.”

Tait said he’s met people on the streets who were working pre-pandemic and lost their houses during the pandemic.

On the renting side, many landlords tried to be flexible but could “only wait so long,” Whitford said. “They have the bills to pay as well.”

The longer a person faces homelessness, the harder it is to get out, Whitford added.

End Homelessness Winnipeg’s April 2021 interim census counted 1,127 people experiencing homelessness. The number is likely inaccurate because it was conducted without the in-person survey component, Whitford said.

The organization conducted its first street census in 2015.

gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca