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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4410317_web1_260716-Oak-Table-0008.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Organizations that support the homeless must, by their very mission, provide that support where the homeless people are, not where we would like them to be.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not hard to sympathize with people who are tired of dealing with this mess and mayhem. Still, it should be said that Oak Table, a private not-for-profit organization affiliated with an umbrella social services agency called 1JustCity, is not in the wrong place.<\/p>\n
Osborne Village has had a significant homeless population for many years now. Organizations that support the homeless must, by their very mission, provide that support where the homeless people are, not where we would like them to be.<\/p>\n
Which is to say, the concerns at the heart of resident and business complaints in Osborne Village are, first and foremost, a consequence of homelessness, not necessarily caused by Oak Table. Our collective failure to understand that distinction is at the heart of our inability to alleviate homelessness.<\/p>\n
Notwithstanding heroic efforts by the NDP provincial government to amass permanent social housing for the homeless, our current approach to dealing with the issue is as it has always been: push homeless people out of one part of the city into other parts without any planning or process and hope that wherever they end up, they cause fewer problems than they did before.<\/p>\n
Why do we do this? Politicians know that people who have a place to live generally don\u2019t care where homeless people go as long as they are out of sight and mind.<\/p>\n
Politicians know that people who have a place to live generally don\u2019t care where homeless people go as long as they are out of sight and mind.<\/p>\n
You can see this approach in a city\u2019s encampment removal bylaw that has led to the dismantlement of many tent cities located too close to a school, recreational facility or daycare. Where have those people gone?<\/p>\n
This \u201canywhere-but-here\u201d mentality was also in full force when the WPS recently did a sweep of Main Street and adjacent corridors to reduce drug use and trafficking. The WPS has a report on what their sweep accomplished, they just won\u2019t release it.<\/p>\n
City council and the police would like everyone to think that clearing encampments and rousting people living on the street is making Winnipeg safer. All it\u2019s doing is making it hard for the agencies that help the homeless to do their jobs.<\/p>\n
Far too often, when residents of a neighbourhood complain about the impacts of homelessness, they direct their disdain towards drop-in centres, supervised drug consumption sites and other support agencies. Even though these agencies do not create or exacerbate the problem of homelessness; they are just meeting the homeless where they already live.<\/p>\n
All of which brings us back to Oak Table and Osborne Village, a downtown-adjacent neighbourhood that has \u2014 with its proximity to downtown and wooded riverbanks \u2014 served for decades as a popular destination for the homeless.<\/p>\n
If you got rid of Oak Table, the collateral issues that have drawn the ire of residents and businesses would still be there. We know this because the homeless do not really have anywhere else to go.<\/p>\n
How do we help the homeless and provide safer streets in places like Osborne Village? This is where political leadership is desperately needed.<\/p>\n
How do we help the homeless and provide safer streets in places like Osborne Village? This is where political leadership is desperately needed.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the permanent housing solutions the province is working on aren\u2019t manifesting quickly enough to deal with what social service agencies believe is a growing homeless population.<\/p>\n
The province and city have to collaborate and find a more effective strategy.<\/p>\n
In addition to providing funding for enhanced security and the collection of drug paraphernalia near existing shelters, the province needs to provide more safe and clean options for homeless people to live until a permanent home becomes available.<\/p>\n
To date, Premier Wab Kinew\u2019s government has refused to provide any support to a proposal from Winnipeg Coun. Cindy Gilroy to create a managed encampment to transition people from the street to more permanent housing.<\/p>\n
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The city, likewise, has refused to undertake a project like that on its own given that it is a provincial responsibility. Social service agencies are reluctant to press the two levels of government because they fear it might siphon off some of the financial support they are currently receiving.<\/p>\n
Closing shelters and drop-in centres won\u2019t solve the problems that worry Osborne Village residents. And at this moment, we don\u2019t really have anywhere else for them to go.<\/p>\n
Even though the city, province and agencies are all doing their best, we\u2019ve become trapped in a pointless, destructive stalemate.<\/p>\n
One that fails both Osborne Village and its homeless population.<\/p>\n
dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Dan Lett Dan Lett is a columnist for the Free Press, providing opinion and commentary on politics in Winnipeg and beyond. Born and raised in Toronto, Dan joined the Free Press in 1986.\u00a0 Read more about Dan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dan\u2019s columns are built on facts and reactions, but offer his personal views through arguments and analysis. The Free Press\u2019 editing team reviews Dan\u2019s columns before they are posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the our\u00a0tradition, 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
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