WINNIPEG \u2014 The Manitoba government said Monday it remains focused on its promise to eliminate chronic homelessness, even as new numbers suggested the problem in Winnipeg is growing.<\/p>\n
A report from End Homelessness Winnipeg, a non-profit umbrella organization that works with dozens of front-line groups, said there were just over 4,400 people who were considered chronically homeless in March \u2014 an increase of 104 from the previous month.<\/p>\n
People are finding housing, the report said, but at a slower rate than the number of people becoming newly unhoused.<\/p>\n
“It’s really clear we need to do more. We need to get ahead of this, and right now we are running behind,” Jennifer Moore Rattray, the non-profit’s chief executive officer, said.<\/p>\n
The NDP government, elected in 2023, campaigned on a promise to end chronic homelessness within eight years.<\/p>\n
Bernadette Smith, the minister of housing, addictions and homelessness, said the government has opened new social-housing units, and more than 700 social-housing and affordable units are under construction.<\/p>\n
More than 200 people have been moved out of encampments, she added.<\/p>\n
“We’ve taken boards off of over 2,100 Manitoba Housing units,” Smith said.<\/p>\n
End Homelessness Winnipeg said the data changes over a one-year period are even more stark \u2014 2,550 more people experiencing homelessness, and 1,300 people newly considered chronically homeless.<\/p>\n
Chronic homelessness refers to having been homeless for at least 180 days over a one-year period, or 18 months over a three-year period.<\/p>\n
The numbers are drawn from a real-time data set used by shelters and other service agencies across Winnipeg that provide supports.<\/p>\n
Rattray cited a number of factors for the growing numbers. Governments over many years have not spent enough in affordable housing, she said. There are also increasing problems with addiction.<\/p>\n
“I think we’re looking at significant mental health and wellness challenges. I think we’re looking at increasingly addictive drugs. I think we’re looking at intergenerational trauma,” she said.<\/p>\n
Smith blamed much of the problem on the previous Progressive Conservative government, which she said did not build social housing units.<\/p>\n
The Progressive Conservatives, now in Opposition, said the NDP should be more focused on opening up new addiction treatment spots instead of funding a planned supervised consumption site, slated to open later this year in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
“The NDP answer to addictions is to provide a space for (people) to consume more drugs, at five times what they’re investing in recovery,” Tory Leader Obby Khan said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2026<\/p>\n
Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 The Manitoba government said Monday it remains focused on its promise to eliminate chronic homelessness, even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2222,2308,2086,2216,539,2307,2306,84],"class_list":["post-3732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-bernadette-smith","tag-chronic-homelessness","tag-homelessness","tag-jennifer-moore-rattray","tag-manitoba-government","tag-ndp-government","tag-non-profit-umbrella-organization","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}