This past weekend I had the pleasure of participating in the Elmwood Unity Walk, a twice-weekly community outreach walk that aims to connect with and support the most vulnerable in our community.

The Unity Walk team had invited Elmwood-East Kildonan city council candidates to join the walk, to see first-hand the ways people are struggling in our community, and to help in the most immediate ways we can, like giving out food (thanks to Community Helpers Unite), hygiene and harm-reduction supplies and other essentials. Walk participants also clean up hazards such as syringes and broken glass as much as possible along the way.

It was a beautiful fall day and we walked about 6km, visiting several known "hotspots" for high poverty and encampment activity. When we wrapped up the walk, I reached out to St Boniface Street Links to alert them to a few spots where we saw signs that there may have been folks camping. I have partnered with Street Links to provide outreach and support in Elmwood-East Kildonan and over the past few months, and this has proven very helpful in addressing concerns about encampments in our public parks and greenspaces, and to help these folks get connected to housing and other supports. After connecting folks with housing and services, Street Links has then worked hard at cleaning up vacated encampment sites so that these spaces can be enjoyed safely by others.

Winnipeggers consistently identify homelessness as one of their greatest concerns. While we can't solve homelessness on our own, or overnight, there are things we can do to help unsheltered folks have somewhere safe and clean to live while we wait for more transitional/supportive housing to become available. Since being elected last fall, I have consistently voted in favour of exploring the concept of a managed encampment (a designated encampment area where basic services like running water and bathrooms and garbage collection are provided, along with 24/7 staffing by experienced support workers). Although there hasn't yet been majority support on council for a managed encampment, I will continue to advocate for better responses to the homelessness crisis in our city, and to continue to find ways to make progress where we can, such as through my partnership with St Boniface Street Links.

Thank you to the Elmwood Unity Walk for the invitation to walk together, and for your ongoing efforts to care for our community and all its members!