In the summer of 2024, Winnipeg’s homelessness sector grappled with the heartbreaking reality of having children (some as young as 12 years old) presenting alone, at adult emergency shelters. While this is sadly not a new issue, it was a stark reminder of the degree to which young people in Winnipeg continue to face compounded trauma and vulnerabilities; these can include sexual exploitation, youth addictions and mental health, and houselessness.
On August 28th, 2025, End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW) released the 2024 Winnipeg Street Census that found almost of quarter of Winnipeg’s unsheltered population are youth between the ages of 16-25 years old. This report issues a recommendation around foundational systems reform, and states that policy reform needs to be created, that compels the Manitoba Government to respond to youth and young adults experiencing housing instability.
Youth experiencing houselessness is, in essence, the failure of systems to protect and uphold basic human rights among its youngest citizens. It is intersectoral and requires proactive rather than reactive efforts of governments and community. Aligned with the concept of ‘Duty to Assist’, what is needed to combat youth homelessness is a preventative model that is based on upholding human rights, and which compels a legal responsibility for government to collectively respond to housing instability.
Prior to moving the ‘Duty to Assist’ model forward at a systems level, we must explore within communities what a duty to assist might mean to lived and living experts, service providers, and community members. In October 2024, in Winnipeg, an event was held that aimed to do just this; exploring within a Winnipeg-based context what overarching themes relate to youth homelessness, from a prevention lens.
This post represents the first of a series of blog posts that review the overarching findings of the ‘Duty to Assist Winnipeg’ event held in October 2024.
Pathways into Youth Houselessness
The first set of discussion questions were related to the risk factors that impact people and the pathways into homelessness. In the words of the lived experts, and event attendees, experiences of youth homelessness are the outcome of broken systems and are rooted in the history of colonization, the impacts of which are felt every day in tangible and damaging ways.
An attendee’s notes capturing the various pathways into youth homelessness
In a quote from Table #2 at the event, “systems have a choice and fail us every time. Systems perpetuate problems”.
Pathway 1: Colonization
Colonization has led to systemically ingrained racism and discrimination, community displacement, a disconnect from Indigenous cultural ways of knowing and being due to the ongoing legacy of residential schools and the mission to “kill the Indian in the child”. Many youths face the impacts of intergenerational trauma daily, all of which increases risk of experiences of homelessness. There is also the use of screening and assessment tools that have been designed from a Western perspective and may not be appropriate to use with Indigenous peoples.
Pathway 2: Substance Use Disorder
Youth struggling with addictions and needing support face significant barriers to obtaining it, and it is a cycle that often coexists with experiencing homelessness. Currently most systems are not operating from a harm reduction model of care, and this results in people having limited options/access to supports. Even when accessing resources, many are denied or kicked out from shelters or youth homes for small infractions or having any amount of substance on their person, which leads only to more instability and harm.
Pathway 3: Transitions between Government Systems
Receiving services from government serving systems such as Child and Family Services (CFS), youth corrections and Children’s DisAbility services often requires points of transition out of the social services system, which increases risk of experiencing homelessness. For instance, being in CFS care may mean that there is a lack of reunification efforts to natural supports such as family and friends; often resulting in broken relationships, lack of learned life skills such as financial literacy, cooking, cleaning, and mentorship. Further, once a youth reaches the age of 18, they are transitioned out of the CFS system, often into instability and this is often a person’s entry into chronic homelessness.
Pathway 4: Unique Needs of 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth
2SLGBTQIA+ youth are often overrepresented (compared to their proportionate population percentage) in experiences of homelessness. In discussion, several reasons for this came up, including youth’s identities not being accepted by their family of origin, leading to them being kicked out of their homes. They might also be supressing their true selves and living at constant risk of being kicked out, leading to severe mental health issues and suicidal ideation, and experiences of hidden homelessness.
Pathway 5: Poverty
The many facets of poverty, including intergenerational poverty and a lack of affordable housing and low vacancy rates all lead youth into experiences of houselessness. Some of these factors are the inability to lease an apartment without a guarantor, a lack of knowledge of how to advocate for themselves with landlords and the process of finding/keeping a rental, difficulty balancing education with the necessity of providing income for oneself, food insecurity, and the limiting current structure of the Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) system.
Pathway 6: Lack of Health Care
The lack of health care, including access to medical supports in rural and remote communities, and limited access to resources for those experiencing mental health issues, who are neurodivergent, or experiencing teen pregnancy were identified as increasing a youths’ risk of experiencing houselessness. Nearly all mental health resources in the province have long wait times which does not allow for upstream support and instead means that many youths will only access support when they are already in crisis. Further, unsafe discharge processes from crisis stabilization units can put youth in precarious situations.
Pathway 7: Migrating from ‘Home’ Community to Urban Cities
Representatives from rural and remote communities spoke about the difficulties that families and individuals encounter when migrating from their home community to urban cities such as Winnipeg. There are ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors related to the decision to leave one’s home community, including concerns with adequate housing and overcrowding, a lack of access to employment opportunities and education, and a lack of access to medical care including mental health and addictions services. Additionally, there can be concerns related to violent crime (including gang recruitment), as well as displacement due to environmental disasters such as fire and flood. After migrating to urban cities, youth often experience isolation, disconnection from community and they may struggle to find safe and adequate housing due to having less of a social safety net.
Looking Ahead
Having identified the pathways into youth houselessness, discussions moved to solution-focused ways in which prevention and intervention efforts might curb the risk of youths experiencing houselessness. The next blog post in the series will focus on the findings of this question and the overall theme of accountability across all systems and governments.