Every individual experience and story of homelessness is different – maybe it’s a job loss, a mental illness, rent going up by $100, or a global pandemic. Their situation will define the steps the person or their support worker takes to find housing again.
At the same time, their crisis takes place within a broader context they had absolutely nothing to do with. For decades, decisions made at all levels impact how people lose their homes, what experiencing homelessness is like, and what it takes to get housing again.
Today is National Housing Day, a day to remember how important it is to work together to make sure everyone in Canada has a safe, affordable place to live. In 2019, Canada said that housing is a human right when it passed the National Housing Strategy.
And yet, today, we see more and more people entering homelessness. In 2022, Winnipeg’s Street Census counted over 1,250 individuals experiencing homelessness. They acknowledged the number may be higher by as many as 4,000 individuals.
Once someone experiences homelessness it often impacts them for life, even if they find housing again. This can be especially true for kids, and even more so for kids who have been in foster care. Getting people help as early as possible is critical and depends on having stable, affordable, permanent housing.
But that’s made difficult – or nearly impossible – in many situations by things beyond someone’s control. Factors like:
- The defunding of post-war social housing programs in 1984, dropping the units built from a high of 40,000 in one year to under 2,000 annually by 1993 and forward.
- The closing of mental health institutions without properly supporting individuals experiencing mental illness, beginning in the 1960s and forward.
- Turning housing into an investment in Canada in the 1980s, leading to rising housing costs for average Canadians and increasing profits for large housing companies.
- The defunding of Manitoba Housing’s annual upkeep funding from $120M in 2016 to $37M in 2022. The 2024 budget included $116M for construction and upkeep.
- Only 800 units of affordable housing being built in Manitoba from 2016-2023, with fewer than half being social housing units where rent is geared to income.
- Many affordable housing contracts from the 1980s ending, making it likely over 15,000 units will no longer be affordable.
- Manitoba losing 9,885 units that cost under $750/month to disrepair or price increases.
When decisions like the above are made the impacts are often not felt for a few years or even decades – long enough that the government making the decision can celebrate the savings.
But the impacts add up over time.
Forty years later, we are feeling the impacts – and the increasing conversation and focus on ending homelessness demonstrates how significant the problem is.
The first step is reversing some of these old decisions, decisions that relied on the private market and put profits above people.
The second step is to realize that homelessness has become more complex and we need continued supports for people even after they find housing.
The third step is to remember that no one stays in housing entirely on their own. We are all connected and need each other.
Homelessness isn’t inevitable – it’s a crisis decades in the making. On National Housing Day, join us in advocating for change. Share what you’ve learned – here and elsewhere – about the impacts of the lack of housing. Support efforts that make safe, affordable, and permanent housing available for everyone. Let’s work to ensure no one is left without a place to call home.
