{"id":606406,"date":"2026-04-15T19:58:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606406\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:58:15","slug":"public-service-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/606406\/","title":{"rendered":"public service \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

City council is being advised to abandon a possible \u201cmanaged encampment\u201d site pilot project, citing time constraints and high operational costs.<\/p>\n

In December, city council voted for a report to determine the feasibility of running a temporary managed encampment this spring and summer, which could include portable washrooms, garbage bins and on-site service providers to offer resources to the people staying there.<\/p>\n

In a report that will be presented to council\u2019s executive policy committee April 21, the public service is advising the city to drop the idea.<\/p>\n

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A homeless encampment behind the Granite Curling Club in 2025 (John Woods \/ Free Press files)<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the time constraints to operationalize a managed encampment site before spring, the significant operational costs, the current work of the province, which limits its ability to support this pilot, and the need to engage the community related to site selection, design and operations, the public service is not recommending that the pilot move forward at this time,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo proceed, further analysis is needed, including community engagement related to site selection, a comprehensive legal review on the project, and a more detailed cost evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report suggests the site, which could host 24 to 60 people, based on size and the number of staff needed, could cost between $707,168 to $1.39 million to operate from April to August.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis does not include funding for security, wrap-around supports, or (other) on-site staff,\u201d the report said. \u201cIt is recommended that at a minimum a managed encampment would have a 24-7 on-site staff presence by an appropriate external provider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council asked city staff to consult with the province on possible funding support options, but the report said the Housing, Addictions and Homelessness department advised the province wouldn\u2019t be able to commit any new funding or divert existing services this summer.<\/p>\n

The province suggested supporting the project would likely force a reduction in the Your Way Home chronic homelessness strategy and the November opening of its \u201cnavigation centre,\u201d which it said would offer many of the supports suggested in the managed encampment pilot.<\/p>\n

A number of Canadian cities have versions of managed encampment sites, which offer amenities ranging from basic washroom and water facilities to tiny homes, laundry and internet.<\/p>\n

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n

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

Malak Abas
Reporter
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Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City council is being advised to abandon a possible \u201cmanaged encampment\u201d site pilot project, citing time constraints and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-606406","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\/606406","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=606406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}