{"id":592044,"date":"2026-04-09T07:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/592044\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T07:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:54:16","slug":"outreach-teams-encampment-residents-brace-for-impacts-of-extended-winter-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/592044\/","title":{"rendered":"Outreach teams, encampment residents brace for impacts of extended winter conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Winnipeg faces extended winter conditions, outreach teams and local shelters are bracing to begin to shift and focus on the long-term impacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis snow at this time of year, in particular, this type of snowfall makes it very challenging for people who are living outside, makes it very uncomfortable and difficult for outreach teams trying to support people,\u201d said Marion Willis, the founder and executive director of St. Boniface Street Links.<\/p>\n

According to End Homelessness Winnipeg\u2019s monthly count, 8,000 people are facing homelessness in the city.<\/p>\n

The non-profit says that, due to extended winter conditions, shelters like Siloam Mission extended their services for another month to meet the demand. The shelter is working on emergency capacity beyond its regular timeline.<\/p>\n

CityNews reached out to Siloam Mission, but they were not available for an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shelters and other services need to stay open for a longer period of time than they normally would,\u201d said Tanis Wheeler, the senior director of community response at End Homelessness Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tanis Wheeler, the senior director of community response at End Homelessness Winnipeg. (Nick Johnston, CityNews)<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Salvation Army said the Winnipeg Centre of Hope saw increased demand in December through February, but it\u2019s now leveling out. The daytime warming spaces remain available when temperatures fall below zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a humanitarian crisis,\u201d said Wheeler.<\/p>\n

Danielle Irante has been living in a tent in the St. Boniface area on and off for the past five years, and the wintery conditions have forced him and residents to adjust, to protect their belongings.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust going put it on pallets, keep it off the ground, stay dry. You have to work with it,\u201d said Irante.<\/p>\n

\"\"Danielle Irante, encampment resident. (Nick Johnston, CityNews)<\/p>\n

Despite the weather, Willis says the area saw at least eight new encampments pop up in the past few weeks, and their outreach team is bracing for a challenging year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really hoping I\u2019m wrong about this, but I don\u2019t think so. I think we are going to see many more encampments than we\u2019ve seen in recent years. And it adds strain on every system, neighbourhoods, businesses, and people,\u201d said Willis.<\/p>\n

A statement from the City of Winnipeg reads, \u201cAs the weather warms, city staff continue to assess the resources needed to carry out the policy and protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city encampment protocol introduced in November last year forbids camping in parks, near schools, and by the river.<\/p>\n

CityNews also reached out to the province, which said, \u201cManitobans know that winter ends on its own timeline. That\u2019s why, when we\u2019re preparing for the spring thaw and the coming of summer, we always plan for those unexpected snowstorms like we just received overnight. Due to this weather, Siloam Mission has extended the winter overnight shelter, and we are helping keep\u00a0N\u2019Dinawemak\u2018s\u00a0overnight drop-in space open a bit longer so that Manitobans experiencing homelessness have a place to stay warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Marion Willis, founder and executive director of St. Boniface Street Links. (Nick Johnston, CityNews)<\/p>\n

Irante says he can adjust to rapidly changing weather conditions, but the looming tent removal has him worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I am being pushed out,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd so do many other people. So we are going to stay in and push back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tDanielle Irante, encampment resident. (Nick Johnston, CityNews) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Winnipeg faces extended winter conditions, outreach teams and local shelters are bracing to begin to shift and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-592044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}