Winnipeg needs help from province on homeless camps, city administrator says

The Manitoba government should be more involved in dealing with homeless encampments in Winnipeg,says the city'schief corporate services officer.

Two large homeless encampments in Winnipeg, both near the Disraeli Freeway, are slated to be torn down as of noon Friday. A city crew had already started to clean up garbage at the camps Wednesday morning using a tractor and an industrial garbage truck.

Some of theresidents have left on their own or were connected with services they require, while others are still there, said City of Winnipeg chief corporate services officerMichaelJack at a news conference Thursday.

But aside from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the effort has had little to no help from the province and that needs to change, Jack says.

"When you've got people camping in large groups, in public spaces, particularly in conditions that are threatening their life safety we all need to be using an all-hands-on-deck approach to this," he said.

The camps have safety issues such as accumulations of garbage and "other undesirable things occurringthat involve violence, that involve criminal activity," he said.

"The supports we talk about when we talk about systemic failures leading to residents being in encampments like this, most of those supports are the responsibility of the provincial government."

Jack citededucation, housing, and mental health and addictions supportsas provincially fundedservices that, if their delivery is successful, could keep people from experiencing homelessnessto begin with.

"We need more involvement from the province on this," he said. "The agencies involved, including the city departments involved, are doing everything they can to attempt to connect those residents to the supports.

"But at the municipal level, the city has neither the revenue levers, or the jurisdiction, frankly, over the areasthat are fundamentally underpinning a lot of the issues that you're seeing manifested at those encampments today."

The homeless camps, located north of Winnipeg's downtown on Austin Street and Henry Avenue, have become a topic of debate.

The Manitoba Metis Federation threatened legal actionlast week, saying thecity was taking no action of the large camp next to its headquarters on Henry Avenue.

Then, the head of Main Street Project a Winnipeg non-profit that provides supports for the city's homeless population said the camps should come down due to public health risk.

On Wednesday, a notice to vacate was delivered to the camps because of health risks such as fires. Butresidents wonderedwhere else they cango, and some have told CBC News that they plan to stay.

The city expects the camps to be vacated when the time comes, Jack said Thursday, adding that there has been good dialogue with residents so farand there is nointention of using force to remove them.

Jack was also asked by reporters if the city will allow the residents to live at other encampments on city property.

The city is monitoring other encampments it knows of, he said, but there are no plans to the dismantle them at this time.

"We're not focused on esthetics, we're not focused on complaints per se, in terms of how people react to them. Our main focus is the safety of the residents in those encampments," he said.

"Whenthey reach a point where [the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service] or other agencies feel they can no longer in good conscience permitthe continuation of those camps, then action will be contemplated for sure."