‘A good start’: Winnipeg’s 1st tiny-homes village for homeless builds relationships, adapts to challenges
The staff at Astum Api Niikinaahk have learned a lot about what it takes to care for some of the most vulnerable people in Winnipeg.
It’s been nearly two years since Winnipeg’s first tiny-homes village for people escaping homelessness, built behind Thunderbird House on Main Street, welcomed its first residents.
Jason Bell remembers the feeling he had when he moved in more than a year ago, after years of living in shelters around downtown Winnipeg.
“It was awesome. I got to sleep on … my own bed,” Bell said in an interview with CBC News, sitting outside in the courtyard.
After experiencing many successes, but also some challenges with some of their first residents, co-ordinator Melissa Stone says more supports are required to help people with the highest needs.
“You learn how people are, what your obstacles are, what your celebrations are, [and] how much trauma people come with that you don’t understand until you’re there working with individuals,” Stone said.
Images of the silhouettes of animals sit above each of the 22 doors surrounding the quiet courtyard inside the walls of Astum Api Niikinaahk. The one with the bison belongs to Bell.
“It took me a while to get used to the room, but after I got used to the room, it just became home for me,” he said.
Bell likes that he knows his neighbours.
“I see the same people every day, all the time … It’s comfortable. When you’re in the shelters, you see new people all the time,” he said.
Planning for the project began in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its opening by a year-and-a-half. When the first residents arrived in December 2022, it quickly filled all of its transitional housing units.
There are 18 bachelor-style units 170 square feet in size, and four 400-square-foot units accessible to people who use mobility devices such as wheelchairs.
The 22 units with their brightly coloured doors form a semi-circle around the inner courtyard. Chairs have been set out on the porches in front of some of the units, and benches surround a fire pit in the centre of the courtyard.
A patch of dried grass shows the outline of a sweat lodge, which staff plan to rebuild before winter. A high metal fence encloses the entire property, which includes a large main building containing offices, a commercial kitchen, and activity space.
Bell volunteers to cook dinner for the other residents every Tuesday and Thursday. Each of the units also has a small kitchen with a mini-fridge, sink, microwave and stove, so residents can cook for themselves.
A room off the large activity space contains dried herbs for ceremonies.
Building relationships
Housing co-ordinator Donna Walstrom says the residents and staff often hold game tournaments in the main hall, which she describes as a form of “play therapy.”
“It’s a fun time when we do our gamings here, because we’re all sitting in the lodge here and we’re all, like, having fun drinking water … And it’s a really good time to keep that relationship going and moving forward,” she said.
One of the first things the staff at Astum Api Niikinaahk learned upon opening was the importance of relationship building, Walstrom said.
“Having people surround you that have been through similar situations. It makes it easier, more comfortable to walk through their healing journey.”
Of the original residents, four have graduated from the program, meaning they successfully moved into their own place out in the community.
Two moved into addictions treatment, which Stone calls “a huge success.”
In four cases, however, residents had co-occurring mental health and addictions issues, which were beyond the ability of Astum Api Niikinaahk to manage, and those people were unable to stay, Stone said.
“When you have individuals who have mental health disorders, plus they’re coping mechanism is using alcohol or drugs, it’s difficult because it changes their brain chemistry, right?” she said.
“And with the toxic drugs out on the street, and with having two staff on, it was just impossible to support them.”
Operations cost a little more than $1 million per year. About $800,000 of that goes directly to staff.
With 10 full-time staff, including administration, four part-time staff, and a handful of casual employees, Astum Api Niikinaahk runs 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. Working in shifts of eight to 12 hours, one to two staff are on hand at any given time to provide direct support to the residents.
A higher ratio of staff to residents, in some cases one-on-one support, is needed to help some of the most vulnerable people, Stone said.
More resources needed
Providing adequate funding for staff is a key part of the solution. Astum Api Niikinaahk is operated by the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, and funded through Manitoba Housing, End Homelessness Winnipeg and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, along with some private donations.
A provincial government spokesperson said its contribution for 2023-2024 would be $62,352.
“Funding varies monthly based on occupancy and the rents of the occupied units,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.
Penny Gurstein is a professor emeritus of the School of Community and Regional Planning and co-director of the Housing Research Collaborative at the University of British Columbia, and serves on the board of Portland Hotel Society, a supportive housing project in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Attracting and keeping qualified staff to support vulnerable people in their housing can be difficult, because people can often earn more money working in other fields, Gurstein said.
“The societies who are managing this have to fight tooth and nail for every penny they get,” Gurstein said.
“It’s not necessarily a lot of rich donors who want to do this … So it really is dependent on government to support this.”
When Astum Api Niikinaahk first opened in the winter of 2022 after a long delay, Stone says they wanted to house as many people as quickly as they could, but due to differences in the background of some of the residents, “not everyone was able to get along.”
Astum Api Niikinaahk made some changes to their intake processes. They now take referrals through the Urban Eagle Transition Centre, and through Wi Che Win, a housing first program also run by Ma Mawi.
Now, staff at Astum Api Niikinaahk and their partners consider how each of the individuals they bring in fits with the larger group to ensure they maintain “balance,” Stone said.
“Our elders and our knowledge keepers said that we need to keep a balance here with individuals,” taking into consideration age, gender diversity and health, Stone said.
The need for more supportive housing projects like Astum Api Niikinaahk is great, housing co-ordinator Donna Walstrom said.
“The biggest lesson is we want to help everybody. We only have 22 homes here and we need more places like this, because we have hundreds and hundreds of folks who need places like this,” she said.
Jason Bell looks forward to eventually finding a stable job and moving into a place of his own, but before he leaves Astum Api Niikinaahk, he has some health issues he needs to take care of, he said.
“I think this is just a good place to start to end homelessness for yourself. Just a good start.”
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