St. Boniface Street Links expands fight against homelessness to downtown Winnipeg

St. Boniface Street Links is expanding its services beyond its namesake neighborhood and, to mark this milestone, will soon become Street Links.

The organization made the announcement during an open house on Wednesday.

It’s thanks to a Winnipeg rental property owner that the non-profit fighting homelessness can afford to move its drug awareness and recovery program to downtown Winnipeg, says Marion Willis, the director of St. Boniface Street Links.

The program that we developed here, we transfer it thereshe said. The new location, located at 259 Fountain Street, has just been returned to service, after being completely renovated. He is absolutely impeccable and charming.

St. Boniface Street Links until now, only served the east bank of the Red River.

The owner of the building, Sam Tourond, is delighted to be able to contribute to the project of the non-profit organization and perhaps even to become the model for other provinces and other cities.

The building and the income are secondary. It’s about giving people the opportunity to make better use of this place, which may be around long after mehe said.

Mr. Tourond says he gave the organization exclusive access to his building which has more than thirty housing units.

Many owners are afraid. [Ils] are afraid or don’t want to care [du problème de l’itinérance]. Well, no, how are we going to move forward without taking care of it or giving someone an opportunity? How will things improve? You can’t improve the situation without taking risks, and in this case, I’m taking riskshe said.

Mr. Tourond hopes that having the organization’s staff on site will result in fewer calls to emergency services, but he says he is willing to extend the model to other properties if he knows of any success.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham is pleased that St. Boniface Street Links was able to find a private sector partner who believes in their mission.

Unfortunately, right now in our city there are too many people suffering in the streets, too many people suffering in camps, on river banks or in parks.he said.

Scott Gillingham recognizes, however, that these people are not just looking for housing. He welcomed the support that St. Boniface Street Links offers its residents to treat addiction or mental health problems, for example.

They never abandoned me

Trista Sinclair arrived at the shelter St. Boniface Street Linksa month ago.

I lived in a makeshift camp. I’m transitioning from detox to my own housingrelate-t-elle.

In addition to finding a home, Ms. Sinclair receives three meals a day and benefits from a support system to promote her recovery.

When they find a suitable place for me, they will accommodate me. It’s like a step in my sobrietyshe said.

St. Boniface Street Links is on a mission to end homelessness and is tackling it by tackling the drug addiction crisis head on.

I am very grateful, because they never gave up on medit Mme Sinclair. I’ve been sober for a hundred days.

With information from Catherine Moreau