Winnipeg homeless organization voices support for Steinbach’s The INN

A Winnipeg homeless outreach charity has endorsed a proposal to build Steinbach’s first transitional housing complex, The Carillon has learned.

Main Street Project, which offers housing and addictions supports in Winnipeg, voiced its support for The INN (Initiative for Neighbourly Nights) in a letter to provincial officials on Nov. 19.

“We are confident that The INN will provide a safer, more stable, and more compassionate response to housing instability in Steinbach,” read the letter, signed by executive director Jamil Mahmood.

The INN, which formed in July 2023, is an assisted-living transitional housing project that would house people in 12 rooms for up to 18 months. It would also offer onsite nursing and addictions services. The roughly $1-million project, located at Main Street and Kroeker Avenue, is slated for construction in spring 2026, pending city approval of its permit application.

Cindy Titus, Main Street Project’s interim director of development, said people from The INN toured The Bell Hotel, a permanent supportive housing facility, and Mainstay, the organization’s transitional housing program. She said collaborating with The INN is a positive and proactive way to help the project get started.

“It’s great to see an organization like The INN think about moving towards more supportive housing structured environments. It’s a great thing to do for people experiencing homelessness,” Titus told The Carillon.

The INN’s vision to offer wrap-around supports and pathways for mental health and addictions help aligns with the work Main Street Project is already doing in Winnipeg, she said. Steinbach is a smaller community, and any project needs to be tailored to what vulnerable people are facing for that context, Titus added. The Main Street Project team is open to providing ongoing support and maintaining relationships with people at The INN, she said, though she couldn’t provide specifics.

Main Street Project started in the 1970s, and Titus believes it has a role in sharing its knowledge with new projects so they can get a head start.

“We’ve been at this work for a long time, and we’re always happy to collaborate and share knowledge to best meet the needs of the community, and also understanding that things shift and change within the experiences of people who are homeless,” she said.

Leona Doerksen, chairperson for The INN, said Main Street Project’s endorsement is a positive sign for the Steinbach facility because the province asked the INN to emulate its programs.

“Main Street Project is something that’s highly regarded by the province, and we feel really encouraged that they’ve looked at our project and said that we’re on the right track,” she said.

Doerksen said The INN is following a housing-first model for its facility, something that’s a provincial priority under Manitoba’s Your Way Home homeless plan, released in January. Housing-first models seek to provide stable, safe housing with mental health and addictions treatment supports for homeless people.

Board members from The INN toured nine different Manitoba homeless facilities, including the ones Main Street Project operate, Doerksen said. She said having a similar program in Steinbach is necessary because vulnerable people in rural environments often can’t travel to Winnipeg for the help they need. Doerksen views The INN filling a necessary role and collaborating with existing housing initiatives like Steinbach Community Outreach’s The Bridge, a 24-unit affordable housing complex.

“The INN will be the first entry-level point, so people will come right from being unhoused into The INN, and that’s where they will wait until there’s room at one of the housing facilities that best suits their needs,” she said.

The INN is hoping to raise $25,000 by the end of December to hire a project consultant to help develop fundraising strategies and build community partnerships, Doerksen said. The non-profit is also seeking $500,000 over five years for capital funding from corporate sponsors and investors, she added.

She acknowledges there’s often hesitancy or fear when a project is announced, but said The INN’s model is based off informed and proven practices.

“The board of The INN have done their due diligence and really investigated as much as we can in terms of a best approach,” Doerksen said.

“This will be a good thing for Steinbach, for Main Street and for the Southeast.”