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Homelessness Prevention Summit

A stakeholder summit was held on April 22 and 23, 2010 at the Turtle Island Neighbourhood Centre, 510 King Street in Winnipeg. The name of the Summit was Rethinking Homelessness – What is Your Piece of the Puzzle?

The summit brought together stakeholders from all levels of government, the community and business sectors, to build on the strong foundation of housing, outreach and support services introduced under the Homeless Strategy.

A three-day training session for service providers delivering the Homeless Strategy projects was held in Winnipeg on March 1, 2 and 3, 2011. The session included training on eviction prevention, motivational interviewing, life skills, mental health awareness, harm reduction, health protocols, bed bugs and Rewarding Work.

The prevention of homelessness is a complex, multi-sectoral issue that requires collaboration among key stakeholders to ensure that the range and type of services available are effective and efficient in meeting the needs of individuals and families.  A first step in preventing homelessness is the creation of a common vision or plan.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness indicates that one of the ten essentials to ending homelessness is the creation of a plan in which key stakeholders develop of a set of strategies to end homelessness, and make funding and implementation commitments to these strategies.

Services for the homeless population in Manitoba have primarily been developed by community agencies to meet specific needs, resulting in a patchwork of services that are often costly, stopgap measures designed to manage rather than prevent homelessness.  Research has shown that communities can be more effective in helping homeless people by better coordination of funding and services, changing the mix of assistance provided, and focusing on prevention activities.

There are a number of initiatives at the federal, provincial and local level that are designed to reduce homelessness and poverty.  Although substantial and significant work has and continues to be done, no one community and/or government body has the mandate to tackle the complex, multi-sectoral issue of homelessness.