ManitobaManitoba’s premier says he’s confident the departure of the province’s homelessness strategy adviser to lead a real estate investment trust will help get more housing built.Wab Kinew says Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud will still work in alignment with province following resignationArturo Chang · CBC News · Posted: Oct 31, 2025 7:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesTessa Blaikie Whitecloud said Thursday she is resigning as the province’s senior adviser on its plan to end homelessness to become president and CEO of the Collaborative Housing Alliance Real Estate Investment Trust. (Justin Fraser/CBC)Manitoba’s premier says he’s confident the departure of the province’s homelessness strategy adviser to lead a real estate investment trust will help get more housing built.Premier Wab Kinew did not say much when asked Friday what led to the resignation of Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud only 10 months after taking on the senior adviser role.During an unrelated event, he told reporters simply that the opportunity to lead the Collaborative Housing Alliance REIT “spoke to her.””Tessa is somebody that I have a ton of respect for and somebody that I’m quite close to on a personal level,” Kinew said.”I would love if Tessa had continued to work with us going forward. To see her at a partner organization still working in alignment, in common cause to getting people out of tents and into housing units is a positive development.”Blaikie Whitecloud said Thursday she had accepted a position as president and CEO of the trust, which was established by the province last year to help fill funding gaps for affordable housing.The former Siloam Mission CEO had been selected by the province to help steer the province’s plans to move the estimated 700 Manitobans currently living in tent encampments into housing.The province says 100 people have been moved into housing so far.”It’s maybe only one-seventh of what we need to do, and so we need to continue pushing at this pace,” Kinew said.’Innovative and exciting’ initiativeBlaikie Whitecloud said Friday the real estate investment trust will only make the province’s homelessness strategy even more effective, and that she wants to ensure it continues to be an “innovative and exciting” initiative.”The REIT is the primary tool that’s established right now, but we’re in the process of getting a foundation set up, and there’s going to be other components to that,” she said. “So it’s really going to be about developing an ecosystem of housing that manages to balance itself to continuously be capable of reinvesting in the units that are needed.”Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said housing supply is the biggest barrier to ending homelessness.”In her new role, Tessa will be able to make a real impact in getting more affordable housing built,” he said in a statement.Blaikie Whitecloud said the new position will allow her to still be part of the solution from a “slightly different angle.”WATCH | Homelessness strategy still on track, Kinew says:Manitoba’s homelessness strategy still on track despite adviser’s resignation, says premierPremier Wab Kinew says Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud’s resignation after 10 months as the government’s adviser on homelessness doesn’t jeopardize the province’s efforts to move people out of encampments.With files from Bartley Kives
Manitoba homelessness adviser’s departure to lead real estate trust a ‘positive development’: premier
