Clayton of Steinbach, Man., wasn’t always without a home.
“I was raised in an upper middle-class family, so I never had any this. The mental illness that was in our family, I didn’t recognize, or it was kept from me,” he said.
“I had the best jobs in the world, I worked oil rigs and I worked highway logging in BC… I worked for CN… all sorts of jobs throughout my life.”
Now, for private reasons, 60-year-old Clayton has been living in Steinbach encampments off and on for about six years.
Global News is not sharing his full name for privacy reasons.
“I moved about 20 times, 30 times? I don’t know. Some good moves, some bad moves,” he said.
Clayton is not alone. Steinbach Community Outreach says there are about 30 people living on the city’s streets, 30 more are couch surfing, and at least 100 are at risk of homelessness.
Irene Kroeker, the organization’s executive director says doesn’t necessarily mean a significant increase in people who are homeless, but in their visibility.
“Because we have had a few evictions of a few different places where they were couching, they are out on the street and they are very visible and people notice them quite a bit. And, of course, there are tents and you always notice a tent,” she said.
Homelessness advocate Al Wiebe said job losses and the cost-of-living crisis have led to the exponential growth of tents on the streets of Steinbach.
“Fourteen tents are there now, and more are popping up all the time,” Wiebe told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.
Wiebe says the majority of people living rough in Steinbach are from the community itself, with only two people coming from elsewhere.
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“The problem there is the same as it is in Winnipeg,” he said. “The cost of food, loss of jobs, the cost of housing — it’s very very similar conditions in Steinbach.”
It’s the visibility of people experiencing homeless and their encampments that has drawn residents’ attention.
Steinbach’s mayor, Earl Funk, says his team is trying to figure out what the next step is to help people without homes.
“We’ve asked for administration to go in and kind of do a study and find out what other communities in our province are doing and even around our country,” he said, adding administration will be meeting with Thompson representatives who went to Houston, Texas, to see how they are addressing homelessness.
“What’s our role as a city? What’s the role of the province? What’s the role of the federal government? And how do the three governments work together?” he said.
Other cities, such as Brandon and Dauphin, told Global News they’ve had increases in people experiencing homelessness, though that doesn’t always translate into more encampments.
But it’s sometimes hard to tell.
“Many occupants of encampments are seeking less visible locations for setting up, contributing to a considerable amount of ‘hidden homelessness’ in Brandon,” said Shannon Saltarelli, the City of Brandon’s community housing and wellness coordinator.
Kroeker believes encampments and homelessness could be alleviated with affordable housing, but there isn’t much around.
“We’re trying to do our best to house them and to give them a long-term solution because that’s where we want to go, but we can’t because there is nothing available,” she said.
Funk knows it well.
“We do have to figure out something more permanent for them because it is just temporary. And with it being so cold so many months of our year, we need to make sure that there is someplace that they can be warm and thrive,” he said.
Addictions and mental health are also a barrier.
“People on the street have issues with addictions and need assistance and ask and beg for assistance in that area. We have nothing available in Steinbach,” she said. “It seems that the only way that we can actually access some real help is to go to different places than Steinbach.”
That largely means going to Winnipeg for help, but not a lot of encampment residents are willing to do that.
“There is a significant fear of going all the way to Winnipeg to be on the streets in Winnipeg. Very difficult. Much more difficult than here. We don’t feel any fear at all when we go and visit these encampments,” she said, “But in Winnipeg, there’s much more violence.”
Clayton said mental health also has a part to play in encampment life.
“Some of these people with their mental illnesses have trouble moving. Most of them actually do. So you don’t want to move them around too much. Every time you go to move, they go into crisis,” he said.
Currently, he says he is on the hunt for somewhere to settle down.
“I’m trying to get a place right now outside of town for about four people and myself. I’ll keep the camp open here and then throughout the winter and try to get some of these people out of there,” he said.
Clayton asks for others to keep an open mind while he and others in his community press on.
“You’re going to take it one step at a time, so am I,” he said.
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