A human rights approach to Winnipeg’s toxic drug crisis and homelessness crisis in Winnipeg

 The toxic drug crisis and homelessness crisis in Winnipeg have reached a boiling point due to years of government underfunding and inaction. Media articles daily cover the impacts of this human rights crisis — overdose deaths, human suffering, communities dealing with needles and homelessness encampments, and more. Despite hundreds of news stories underscoring the scale and urgency of these interconnected crises, the scale of government response is inadequate. In Spring 2026, first responders reported 66 opioid calls in one day.1 Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Services responded to 810 opioid patients this past April 2026, more than triple the 240 it responded to in April 2025. Additionally, outreach and community-based organizations report administering naloxone to revive people multiple times per day.  Many people can be seen affected by toxic drugs on the streets all over Winnipeg. This risks their health and impacts the neighborhoods, communities, and businesses surrounding them. According to End Homelessness Winnipeg’s (EHW) 2024 point in time of homelessness count, 2,469 people were experiencing homelessness, and that 68 per cent or 1,679 met the definition of ‘chronically homeless

.2 Individuals experiencing chronic homelessness, have spent at least half of the past year living without a stable home or cycling through shelter spaces. The number of people entering homelessness is outpacing those able to secure stable, affordable housing. Advocates continue to push for structural changes, and the provincial government has set a target to end chronic homelessness in Manitoba by 2031. The city must push the province to do more, faster and hold the province to account to this commitment. The UMAR HAYAT proposes a five-point action plan for what the City of Winnipeg can do immediately to address this human rights crisis. This action plan will house 2,500 Winnipeggers, based on the number EHW estimates are homeless, in order to get ahead of the crisis, in partnership with the Province of Manitoba and the Government of Canada 

 Five-point action plan on toxic drug crisis and homelessness

 The 2026 UMAR HAYAT five-point action plan acts on Winnipeg’s escalating toxic drug and homelessness crises. The plan recognizes that these crises are interconnected and require sustained investment, coordinated government action, and community-led solutions — not enforcement alone.

 1. Increase supply of new social housing in Winnipeg 

The City will work with the province to fund new construction, purchase vacant hotels and apartment buildings for conversion, acquire licensed rooming houses to preserve affordability, renovate vacant buildings, and support people to live in private market housing. End Homelessness Winnipeg estimates that 2,500 people in Winnipeg are experiencing chronic homelessness. The AMB will lobby the province of Manitoba to work with the City of Winnipeg to create 3,000 units of social housing with supports over four years. Wherever possible, this will be developed with Indigenous governments and community organizations.

 2. Substantially increase outreach supports

 Outreach to people experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg has become increasingly challenging over the past year because it is now taking place alongside the City’s expanded encampment enforcement policy. Outreach serves as a critical bridge to housing and health care. Workers can help people obtain identification, apply for income assistance, access medical and mental health services, connect with addiction treatment, and secure shelter or permanent housing. They conduct wellness checks during extreme weather, distribute food, water, clothing, and harm reduction supplies, and respond to emergencies before they become crises. The challenge is that there are not enough outreach services or housing available. Currently, the City of Winnipeg minimally funds Main Street Project’s mobile outreach program to conduct wellness checks on people experiencing homelessness, distribute essentials and connect people to health and social services. The Downtown Community Safety Partnership is funded by the City to connect with homeless people downtown, and this funding was expanded by the Province of Manitoba with a one-time grant for summer 2026 to respond to the toxic drug crisis. Community experts estimate that an expansion of outreach sixfold is needed to meet the demand for services across Winnipeg’s neighborhood's and to create outreach teams with specializations in mental health, harm reduction, trauma and housing. This would allow outreach to meet those in need, build relationships, and prepare people who are interested in moving into housing to do so. Over the last decade, the number of emergency medical calls related to opioid overdose has increased thirteen-fold.

Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service staff have repeatedly sounded the alarm over unsustainable workloads due to the volume of opioid related calls. By providing another point of contact, trusted community outreach workers can reduce the volume of calls to other emergency services by administering naloxone in overdose cases, providing drug testing services, and offering other harm reduction measures.  

 3. A human rights approach to encampments 

The City of Winnipeg’s current encampment protocol treats visible homelessness as a problem to be moved and does not adequately approach it as a human rights crisis to be solved.  This summer community organizations pointed out that the current bylaws preventing encampments on all public spaces and resulted in homeless people being pushed out and losing connection with outreach and help. Restricting where people can shelter, issuing fines, or dismantling encampments without providing adequate housing does not end homelessness—it simply pushes people from one location to another, often making people less safe and harder for outreach workers to find. These actions can also result in the loss of personal belongings, medications, identification, and community connections, making it even more difficult for people to access housing and services. Research from the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate emphasizes that encampments are a symptom of the failure to provide adequate, affordable housing, not the cause of homelessness' A human rights approach begins with recognizing housing as a fundamental human right.  It prioritizes meaningful engagement with people living in encampments, respects their dignity and autonomy, and ensures that any actions taken are guided by the goal of securing safe, adequate, permanent housing. The City of Winnipeg should work directly with people experiencing homelessness before making decisions that affect them. Encampments should not be dismantled unless residents have access to safe, appropriate social housing or shelter that meets their needs. If encampments remain, cities will provide essential services such as clean water, washrooms, garbage collection, harm reduction supports, outreach workers, and emergency health services to protect people’s health and safety. The solution requires the City of Winnipeg to work closely with the Province of Manitoba to ramp up permanent solutions: increasing the supply of deeply affordable social and supportive housing, strengthening eviction prevention programs, raising income assistance to adequate levels, expanding mental health and addictions supports, and ensuring Indigenous-led housing solutions that recognize the disproportionate impact of homelessness on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. 

 4. Allocate at least one percent of the city budget to support Indigenous-led organizations 

Indigenous organizations should play a leading role in addressing homelessness in Winnipeg because Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected by homelessness as a direct result of colonization, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, systemic racism, and the ongoing impacts of intergenerational trauma. While Indigenous people make up approximately 13 per cent of Winnipeg’s population, they represent 80 per cent of those experiencing homelessness. This requires solutions designed and led by Indigenous communities. Indigenous-led organizations are uniquely positioned to provide culturally safe, trauma informed, and holistic supports that recognize the strengths, identities, and experiences of Indigenous peoples. They integrate housing with cultural connection, Elders, ceremony, language, family reunification, harm reduction, healing, and community support — approaches that have been shown to build trust and improve long-term housing stability. Many Indigenous organizations have decades of experience serving people experiencing homelessness and have established relationships within communities that mainstream service providers may not. They are often the first point of contact for people who have experienced discrimination or who are reluctant to access government or institutional services. Increasing investment in Indigenous-led organizations is not only a matter of equity — it is an evidence-informed strategy that recognizes those closest to the challenge are best positioned to develop lasting solutions. Empowering Indigenous leadership will improve housing outcomes, strengthen communities, and help reduce homelessness across Winnipeg as a whole. 

 5. Actively partner with the Province of Manitoba for action on mental health and housing 

The AMB calls on the province to more strongly actively partner with the city on support for problematic substance use, mental health supports, and creating and maintaining social housing with supports. Ending homelessness requires sufficient Rent Assist, Employment and Income Assistance, accessible health care, and building thousands of housing units — all policy areas where the province leads, not the City. The City of Winnipeg can be a strong advocate for higher income assistance rates, expanded Rent Assist, more supportive housing funding, and mental health and addictions services