Neighbour dismayed after previously removed encampment reestablished

A homeless encampment has returned to a Winnipeg neighbourhood despite the province’s promise to remove them. Jeff Keele has more.

A homeless encampment has returned to a Winnipeg neighbourhood despite the province’s promise to remove them.

Laurie Nealin said she was able to walk on Waterfront Drive near her home a few weeks ago and not see any riverside encampments.

She says they’d been dismantled, and the area around them cleaned up.

“When all the encampments were gone, we were amazed and pleased and hopeful,” said Nealin.

However, Nealin said in a matter of a week or two, some tents and a lot of debris like grocery carts and mattresses were back.

“We’re very dismayed to see that because our understanding was that was not to happen.”

In January, Premier Wab Kinew announced the province would begin housing people, remove the encampments, and make sure they’re not reestablished.

The “Your Way Home” strategy said it would be a joint effort.

“The city, province, and community organizations will work together to regularly monitor the site to prevent further encampments from being established,” the plan said.

Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said so far they’ve placed 30 people into housing, and dismantled 16 encampments.

“These are folks that have wrap-around supports, they’re all successfully housed,” said Smith.

Smith said they expected encampments could pop up again, as the weather warmed up, so they’re renovating more housing units and working with partner agencies like the Downtown Community Safety Partnership.

“We’re also working with our partners that are doing outreach to go and continually chat with these folks, to go back and ensure that they’re not popping back up.”

Smith also said the province will have an update in the near future on new housing units, and how many more people have been housed and encampments removed.

Keeping people from living in encampments could be harder than it seems.

Struggling with addictions and past trauma, Claudemier Bighetty spent ten years in an encampment.

“You don’t want to be bothered, just go away,” said Bighetty.

It was a major adjustment even when Bighetty was convinced to move into a home. He set up a tent in the living room.

“I couldn’t sleep on my own bed, a bed that was provided for me, and blankets and pillows.”

He now works at St Boniface Street Links, run by Marion Willis, who helped get him off the streets.

“We think that we’re going to end homelessness by getting people housed and building houses, we’re not going to house our way out of the addiction crisis,” said Willis.