Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith and a delegation from Manitoba are in Houston, Texas, to learn about the municipality’s successful strategy to address homelessness through co-ordination and collaboration, Smith announced on Wednesday (July 25).
“Our government is committed to ending chronic homelessness in two terms. It’s an ambitious goal, and one that’s going to require us to work together,” said Smith. “Houston has had significant success in reducing homelessness and we’re looking to learn from them to help inform an approach that’s tailored to Manitoba communities and builds on the good work already happening in our province.”
The delegation will be hosted by the City of Houston over two days beginning July 25. Delegates will learn about Houston’s collaborative homeless response, visit the Coalition for the Homeless’ Housing Navigation Center and meet with community organizations working on the ground. These programs are key components of Houston’s approach to ending homelessness, which has reduced homelessness in the city by more than 60 per cent and moved over 32,000 people off the streets and into homes, noted Smith.
Partners joining the minister all work to address homelessness across different sectors throughout the province and bring expertise, ideas and success stories from projects that have come before, such as the rich learnings from Winnipeg’s At Home/Chez Soi pilot project a decade ago, added Smith.
Smith’s delegation to Houston includes representatives of:
- municipal governments from Winnipeg, Thompson and Brandon;
- Métis government and Indigenous-led organizations Manitoba Métis Federation, End Homelessness Winnipeg and the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre; and
- community organizations including West Central Women’s Resource Centre, Main Street Project and Downtown Community Safety Partnership.
“This visit is an opportunity to learn what collaboration looks like in practice in a jurisdiction that has seen tremendous success,” said Mayor Jeff Fawcett, City of Brandon. “In Brandon, there are great partnerships already working to address homelessness and it is an honour to join leaders from across the province as we tackle this issue at a large scale.”
The delegation builds on Budget 2024’s investment of over $116 million for the construction and upkeep of social and affordable housing. As part of this funding, the Manitoba government is building 350 new units of social and affordable housing and renovating and repairing another 3,000 units.
