ManitobaWinnipeg’s Coun. Cindy Gilroy says the city can learn from Halifax’s approach to managing homeless encampments, even as that city begins phasing out its designated camping sites.Halifax launched designated encampment strategy in 2022Cameron MacLean · CBC News · Posted: Nov 05, 2025 8:18 PM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe City of Halifax has had several designated encampments, including this one in Grande Parade in downtown Halifax. (Robert Short/CBC)A city councillor says Winnipeg can learn from Halifax’s approach to managing homeless encampments, even as that city begins phasing out its designated camping sites.Starting Nov. 17, new regulations in Winnipeg will ban tents within 50 metres of playgrounds, schools and daycares, and within 30 metres of transit shelters, bridges and riverbanks. City officials say the changes are meant to keep public spaces safe, while outreach teams work to connect people living in tents with housing and support programs.Cindy Gilroy, who represents Winnipeg’s Daniel McIntyre ward, visited Halifax in October to see how that city handled a similar challenge. In 2022, Halifax created several designated areas where people with nowhere else to go could set up tents, which a city official there recently described as “an emergency response to a housing crisis.”The municipality supplied portable washrooms, garbage pickup and electricity to those sites.”What their sites looked at and what really appealed to me is the city did provide some supports right at the site,” Gilroy said in a Wednesday interview. “They even had power, so people were able to plug in their cellphones or use heaters when it got a little bit colder, instead of setting fires.”Gilroy said the Halifax sites were noticeably cleaner and safer than Winnipeg’s unmanaged encampments. “The city had seen a lot less need for police, a lot less need for fire [response],” she said.Still, Halifax’s experiment has faced problems of its own, including reports of violence and concerns about the locations of some sites near residential buildings. City officials in Halifax said this week they are closing one of the remaining three designated sites, saying more shelter beds and supportive-housing spaces are now available.Marion Willis, founder of the Winnipeg outreach group St. Boniface Street Links, travelled with Gilroy to Halifax, and says Winnipeg should build on that model by establishing a small, managed “encampment-to-housing” pilot site.”They’re not managed sites — they’re serviced sites,” Willis said in an interview with CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio. “But if we had one that was both serviced and managed, with a clear housing mandate, I really think we could perfect that model.”As Winnipeg’s new encampment restrictions take effect later this month, city officials say outreach teams will continue to work with people living outdoors to connect them with safer indoor options.WATCH | Winnipeg councillor, advocate look to Halifax encampments experience :Winnipeg councillor, advocate look to Halifax encampments experienceAs the City of Winnipeg prepares to ban tent encampments near playgrounds, schools and bus shelters starting Nov. 17, a local councillor and an outreach advocate travelled to Halifax to learn about the designated camping areas that city had set up, but which are now being phased out.ABOUT THE AUTHORCameron MacLean is a journalist for CBC Manitoba living in Winnipeg, where he was born and raised. He has more than a decade of experience reporting in the city and across Manitoba, covering a wide range of topics, including courts, politics, housing, arts, health and breaking news. Email story tips to cameron.maclean@cbc.ca.
Winnipeg councillor, outreach advocate look to Halifax for lessons on managing homeless encampments
