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FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Designated homeless encampments could aid those in transition from homelessness to being housed.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the city passed a bylaw to clear homeless encampments. To date, it has forcibly cleared some 60 encampments, containing hundreds of residents.<\/p>\n
However, the city and provinces are working at different speeds and, at times, cross purposes.<\/p>\n
Right now, encampments are being cleared with the knowledge there are not enough safe and secure places for residents to go. The result has been fewer encampments but more homeless people sleeping in doorways and alleys.<\/p>\n
This is where Gilroy\u2019s idea comes in. Establishing permanent or semi-permanent, managed homeless encampments would provide a safe place for the homeless as ad hoc encampments are cleared. Although not as secure as apartments, a managed encampment moves the homeless several steps closer to the wraparound services provided by Your Way Home.<\/p>\n
Other cities in Canada have used this approach, with excellent overall results. Managed, authorized encampments are safer, cleaner and can be planned for areas where there is no immediate threat to schools, playgrounds or daycares, the principal concern behind the city\u2019s bylaw. Some communities have gone further, establishing \u201ctiny homes\u201d communities, in which the homeless are provided with a small cabin in a designated site that allows them to live safely, securely and with access to health and social services.<\/p>\n
Opposition to Gilroy\u2019s proposal, and the whole idea of a designated encampment of some description, suggests there are only two options for the homeless \u2014 illegal encampments or permanent housing. They are trapped in that box because of fiscal concerns.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Gilroy\u2019s proposal would obviously require funding from the province. Unfortunately, Premier Wab Kinew and his government are all-in on Your Way Home, and do not want to invest in any kind of transitional solution that bridges the gap that exists between the city\u2019s bylaw and a longer-term solution.<\/p>\n
Even social service agencies have been reluctant to support the idea of a designated encampment out of a fear it would siphon off limited resources provided to other organizations that support the homeless. Again, few will argue that a designated encampment could serve an important transitional purpose; social service groups are largely concerned that, if a transitional site were established, they would lose some of their current funding.<\/p>\n
The debate over designated encampments has been left in a political and administrative limbo \u2014 many acknowledge the important role sites like this could play, but without a commitment from the province for new money, it is having trouble gaining support.<\/p>\n
This is a short-sighted attitude, based largely on self-interest and not on the best interests of the homeless. All interested parties \u2014 the city, province and social-service groups \u2014 should take another look at the idea with the knowledge it could provide a valuable bridge between ad hoc encampment and permanent housing.<\/p>\n
Given that no one is addressing that gap,
\nGilroy\u2019s proposal is worth serious consideration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winnipeg city councillor Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) continues to champion the idea of authorized, designated homeless encampments despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-749157","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\/749157","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=749157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}