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Encampment Support

When the pandemic hit our community, we made a decision to bring services to the community and put our van on the road. We began our street outreach, prioritizing building relationships of trust with parts of the community that may have been unfamiliar with our work before, as we supported people of all genders. 

Much of our focus in the early years was in fulfilling basic needs, bringing water, coffee, meals, hygiene and harm reduction supplies to those who needed them.  Slowly, we started refining our work, identifying that we needed to offer services through a gender-based lens, and fill gaps in support for those who live unsheltered. We started providing housing supports and some case management. 

Building on our 5 years of street outreach, in the late summer of 2025 we partnered with the Province of Manitoba to play a role in Your Way Home – Manitoba’s Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (YWH).

Our efforts are now focusing on securing housing for people living in encampments. 

WCWRC Street Outreach Worker standing in front of our Street Outreach van on a residential street.

We work from a person-centred approach and are proud of our commitment to respecting human rights, autonomy and harm reduction.

What Does WCWRC’s Encampment Support Look Like Now?  

  1. The Encampment-To-Housing Team supports relatives living in encampments, one location at a time;
  2. The Team attends each location with the scope of rapid rehousing folks living rough; 
  3. A Cultural Support Worker is part of the Team and provides cultural support throughout the encampment-to-housing transition. 
  4. Within the limitations of available housing stock, relatives are presented with appropriate rapid-rehousing options. 
  5. The Team supports relatives through the full encampment-to-housing transition. Once they are housed, we introduce them to their ongoing case management team, who will support them as they settle into their new housing. The Cultural Support Worker facilitates programming in the sites relatives are moving into, offering a familiar and consistent presence during and after the transition.  
  6. After this transition is completed, the Team moves onto supporting other encampments. 
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