Winnipeg’s Standing Policy Committee will receive a report next week outlining the city response to homelessness, specifically its encampment distance guidelines.
According to the report, there were 72 encampments in the city and a total of 245 people living in them at the end of July. The areas with the most included Point Douglas with 19 encampments, and Fort Rouge/East Fort Garry with 17.
The numbers are still concerning for many in the community, but city officials say it’s a step in the right direction.
“The number of people living in encampments this time this year compared to this time last year has been cut in half,” said Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham. “Last year, there were over 700 people living in encampments in 100 encampments.”
As of June, Winnipeg’s new encampment distance protocol has led to 141 encampments being cleared, according to the report.
The city offers supports and housing options to those having to leave encampments, but one local shop says the bylaw is just moving these individuals to their doorstep.
“You shut down an encampment, where are they supposed to go? There’s not places for them to be so they just end up in our storefronts,” explained Just Like New to You Thrift Store President Susan Lockhart.
The shop is located on Portage Avenue, with Lockhart saying the issue of crime is the worst it’s ever been. She describes damage to the business being the norm, and a severe beating across the street just this week.
“It was in broad daylight and there were five people just smashing another person,” says Lockhart. “Our handyman who does some help with us, he had his car torched in the back lane. It can be very scary here.”
The mayor admitting that there isn’t the stock right now to support those exiting homelessness, but says Winnipeg is collaborating with the province to ensure everyone has somewhere to go.
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“The biggest chokepoint is that there’s just not enough housing at this moment so the city continues to work hard to get more housing built,” said Mayor Gillingham. “We’ve made progress, there’s more work to do.”
As for the provincial efforts, Manitoba says it’s moved 267 people into transitional housing since beginning it’s Your Way Home strategy at the beginning of last year. 85 per cent of those that have entered transitional housing are still housed.
On Friday, the province touting some of its success at a press conference at one of its downtown core housing locations which features 118 of the transitional units.
N’Dinawemak is an Indigenous-led organization that’s providing 24-hour on-site supports for those living there.
“We have three shifts across the board so we run 24 hours,” says N’Dinawemak Senior Director Nicholas Candaele. “If someone has an issue at midnight for example, they have someone they can instantly go to whether that be someone for case management, whether they need a meal, whatever it might be.”
2025 was a record setting year for naloxone being administered in Winnipeg, happening 4,900 times. According to the report released by the city, naloxone had to be administered over 4,000 times in the first half of 2026 alone, on track to smash the recently set record.
Housing and Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith stresses the connection between homelessness and the addictions crisis. Smith believes transitional housing is a way to recognize that connection and work towards solutions.
“We know that substance use is based in trauma. If we can help folks move from their trauma into a space where they can have some coping skills, some tools in their toolbelts, that if things are happening in their life they’re not turning to substances.”
Smith pointed to Manitoba’s first supervised consumption site which opened last month as a way people are getting connected to services and housing. The minister provided no specifics but said the province would be providing quarterly updates on the site.
Malcolm: Point Douglas is where most of the homeless live. So I’m not exporting them anywhere; it’s the logical place to keep them but also to make improvements for them!
@Jimmy James, Obviously you don’t live or work in the Point Douglas area. Which part of the city do you live in? I say we put the homeless muster point next door to you! Injection site is easy enough to move next to your home as well. Don’t suggest ruining someone else’s neighborhood until your willing to sacrifice your own.
Winnipeg downtown is confirmed as the sewer pit of humanity for Canada and it’s a fitting title because Winnipeg dumps billions of litres of raw sewage into its rivers! Disgusting all around! Is it any wonder 10 city councillors are throwing in the towel.
unless you would like to get stabbed why would you want to go to downtown winnipeg
Winnipeg has the honour of being the most unsafe city in Canada. There is a growing encampment in the little park on the south side of the Osborne bridge. Osborne village was cleaned up this summer because encampments were cleared out of the bridge area. And Osborne was a safer place this summer and is regaining its vitality: Banning encampments works! However, stricter and quicker enforcement is needed to keep spots like Osborne village safe and clean. This story shows Point Douglas is the top encampment spot in Winnipeg. So why not designate Point Douglas as the only encampment zone in Winnipeg. When enforcement officers clean out an encampment like the new one by Osborne village; the occupants are told; we are moving your stuff to Point Douglas muster point and you can setup there; we will leave your stuff there one week, then it goes in the garbage. This stricter policy will help gather homeless people in one spot so the “so called” wrap around services organizations can concentrate their efforts on the Point Douglas encampment zone. The safe consumption site is operating there for them now. Wrap around services officers should be dressed in bright orange uniforms to patrol the Point Douglas zone 24/7 and be fluent in the language of the clientele there.
Thus, the whole area along the riverbanks downtown to The Forks and all parks/bus shacks, etc., in core area should be strictly monitored to prevent homeless threats. The little park by the Osborne bridge was enjoyed by people this past summer: not anymore because it’s a filthy threatening mess now! Likewise, the whole core area is a filthy threatening mess now. Nobody wants to go downtown anymore.
Therefore, the nebulous bylaw against encampments can become a more focused and effective policy instead of a whack a mole policy against encampments!