Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says his government will start moving people out of homeless encampments and into housing in the new year, while sticking to its timeline for a balanced budget -- despite a projected deficit for this year that's grown by half a billion dollars.
Kinew said in a year-end interview that 2025 will be when "you, as the average Manitoban, start to see big steps on homelessness."
Within the first few months of the year, the province will move people living in tents into new housing units the government is opening up, he said.
"I think what we're going to do is move camp-by-camp," he said.
"It's actually going to start at that level ... of, like, a few dozen people at a time. Let's move them into housing, let's make sure that the camp gets cleaned up, and then let's make sure that it doesn't get set up again, because people have been successful in their new housing.'"
Kinew wouldn't offer details around the number of people who will be supported or the number of units opening up, but he said the new homes would be available for people at all stages of the housing process.
He likened these stages to a ladder, where the bottom rung is basic shelter, followed by social housing, Manitoba Housing and then the private rental market.
"It's taken time for us to get those units together, to get the relationships with the private sector so that when somebody's been in Manitoba Housing for five years, we could transfer them over into an apartment," he said.
"But now that we have that ladder in place, 2025 is the year where we go out and start moving people into more dignified living conditions."
Promise to end chronic homelessness
The NDP promised in the 2023 election campaign to end chronic homelessness within eight years of taking office. It's now aiming to connect individuals who've been without shelter for six weeks or longer with housing and mental health supports.
During its first year in office, the NDP said it housed 1,100 people who were living in encampments, shelters and transitional housing -- though the issue of homelessness is rampant along streets, riverbanks and bus shelters, particularly in Winnipeg.
WATCH | Premier on NDP's approach to homelessness, balancing budget:
The province's 2024 budget included $116 million to build 350 social and affordable housing units and repair more than 3,000 units.
Kinew said the government would devote more money into addressing homelessness in next year's budget, but he didn't specify how much.
The premier said there's been recent progress toward clearing the encampment outside the Granite Curling Club in Winnipeg, along the Assiniboine River and only a few hundred metres from the legislature.
"What determines whether or not people end up back there is: Do they have the support so that they can remain successful in housing?" he said.
Kinew wants to have social workers, mental health staff and addictions workers in place.
Earlier in December, he said the proposed supervised drug consumption site at 200 Disraeli Fwy. will serve as a navigation centre for staff visiting the encampments, who will then find camp residents places to live within 30 days.
Still planning to balance budget in 1st term
Meanwhile, Kinew said his government has "important decisions" to make over the next three years to balance the budget, but he isn't budging from his plan to accomplish that by 2027, the end of his first term in power.
"I think it's important that Manitobans see that we're serious about balancing the books, and it is going to take a lot of hard work on our part," said Kinew.
His government's path to balance got narrower last week, when the province revealed its projected deficit for the current fiscal year ballooned by half a billion dollars, to a total of $1.3 billion.
That's a blow to the NDP government, which never gave itself much wiggle room to balance the books. To do so, it's planning to keep annual spending growth below 2.5 per cent. Some of the contracts it's negotiated with public sector unions contained wage increases higher than that.
Kinew said his government will build up the health-care system. 'We're ... figuring out what the price tag is for that, and then making sure that we balance that over the medium-term with what the resources are that we have,' he said. (Trevor Brine/CBC)
Despite the challenges with maintaining the fiscal house, Kinew said his government will continue to put more money into the health-care system, adding decent wages are needed to retain the province's workforce.
"We're ... figuring out what the price tag is for that, and then making sure that we balance that over the medium-term with what the resources are that we have," he said.
The premier said his government will continue to delay "nice-to-have things" to keep its finances in check. He wouldn't speak during the interview about any significant projects that would be pushed back, referring only to less-consequential initiatives like painting offices.
"These things are small decisions, which when you're talking about an organization as large as the provincial government, do add up."
He estimated the government would find tens of millions of dollars through that exercise, "and then when you combine that with a growing economy, that's how over a couple years into the future you can see a path to balance."
The province is also counting on health-care administrators to find savings.
The province's second-quarter financial report, released earlier this month, found $438 million in overspending in the sector. Regional health authorities and service delivery organizations have been ordered to redirect eight per cent of bureaucracy spending to the front lines.
Kinew denied he was blaming health-care administrators for the province's fiscal challenges, saying "everyone knows" the bureaucracy could do a better job.
Manitoba's economy also faces a risk next month if U.S. president-elect Donald Trump follows through on threatened 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian products.
Kinew wouldn't reveal specifics about Manitoba's potential response, saying the federal government is negotiating, but he said the province is considering a suite of responses, including support for impacted businesses and jobs in Manitoba.
He added, however, the province has ruled out retaliatory export tariffs.
"I don't think we need to be shooting ourselves in the foot, if you will, by applying an additional cost to the things that we export out of Manitoba."