Winnipeg advocates hope for change after report calls homeless encampments a 'national human rights crisis'

Housing advocates in Winnipeg say they hope a new report calling for a national homeless encampment plan will lead to much-needed change.

Federal housing advocate Marie-Josée Houle released a report Tuesday that outlines six calls to action to address homelessness across the country, in which she calls the encampments a "national human rights crisis."

"I couldn't agree with the advocate more," said Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, a non-profit that works to end homelessness in Winnipeg.

"Certainly it's appropriate for the federal government to get busy and to develop a national strategy to end homelessness right across this country."

The report comes as a growing number of people in Canada are turning to encampments for shelter due to a lack of affordable housing and support, says Houle's report.

It notes 2022 Statistics Canada data that says 20 to 25 per cent of unhoused people in Canada live in encampments, and calls on the federal government to create a national response plan by Aug. 31 of this year.

The report also calls for governments to end forced encampment evictions and ensure people living in encampments can access clean water, sanitation, food, health care, and other basic necessities.

Willis said the national plan needs to be "inclusive," and must address the factors that lead to homelessness.

LISTEN | Winnipeg housing advocates react to new homeless encampment report:

"Right now, where mental health and addictions predominate, where there's just an untold level of violence across this country ... all of these issues are linked," she said in an interview with CBC's Information Radio Tuesday.

"We have way too many people just out there barely surviving."

The report also says governments need to fund or create more permanent housing and address "structural barriers that result in existing emergency shelters not being accessible or appropriate for all people who might choose to use them."

Advocate Al Wiebe, who has experienced homelessness himself, said he's feeling optimistic after the report's release.

"It's really important that … we realize that they have human rights just like everybody else," he told Information Radio host Marcy Markusa.