ManitobaTessa Blaikie Whitecloud, who was appointed to help steer the Manitoba government’s homelessness strategy, is leaving the position after 10 months on the job.Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud to lead real estate investment trust meant to help create affordable housing unitsArturo Chang · CBC News · Posted: Oct 30, 2025 6:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesTessa Blaikie Whitecloud, left, with Premier Wab Kinew and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith, was appointed to lead the province’s homelessness strategy in January. (Warren Kay/CBC)The woman appointed to help steer the Manitoba government’s homelessness strategy is leaving the position after 10 months on the job.Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud said Thursday she’s accepted a position as president and CEO of the Collaborative Housing Alliance Real Estate Investment Trust. Blaikie Whitecloud, the former CEO of Siloam Mission, was hand-picked to become the premier’s senior adviser in the NDP government’s plan to end chronic homelessness within seven years in January. She was hired at a salary of $177,000.Before that, Blaikie Whitecloud worked in the homelessness-serving sector for more than a decade, most recently as CEO of Siloam Mission.Blaikie Whitecloud will start her new job on Dec. 1, the real estate trust said in a news release.She said the new job would have been a conflict of interest with her work for the province, so she had to leave her role as provincial adviser.The trust was created last year with $10 million in funding from the provincial government. It’s meant to fill funding gaps for transitional and affordable housing projects.Earlier this month, the province announced a $5-million investment to the fund from True North Sports & Entertainment and a $2-million investment from Paul and Anne Mahon through the Mahon Family Foundation.At the announcement of what the trust said was its first major private-sector investment, Blaikie Whitecloud said the project will help get people out of shelters and encampments by building supply that will free up transitional housing space.The province’s homelessness strategy has been able to provide housing to 100 people from encampments, Blaikie Whitecloud said Thursday.She also said that Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith “has an amazing vision for the work that she’s doing,” and has “great relationships in the sector.”She described her work with the province as “really just kind of coming in and establishing the processes.”In a statement Thursday, Smith said Blaikie Whitecloud’s “leadership is instrumental in bringing partners together and setting our strategy on the right path.””We are grateful for Tessa’s dedication to ending chronic homelessness and look forward to continuing to work alongside her as she takes on this new role focused on expanding Manitoba’s housing supply,” Smith said.The NDP government has faced criticism over its progress on reducing homelessness in Manitoba.Encampments continue to raise concerns in many parts of Winnipeg, and a recent report from End Homelessness Winnipeg, a non-profit housing advocacy group, said it counted a record 2,469 people experiencing homelessness in its street census last November.CorrectionsAn earlier version of this story misattributed a quote from Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud to Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith.Oct 30, 2025 6:54 PM EDTWith files from Bartley Kives and The Canadian Press
Manitoba’s homelessness strategy adviser resigns after 10 months on the job
