St. Boniface Street Links (SBSL) works to end homelessness, reduce poverty and support crime prevention through social development as a “best practice” for successful community development.

Our success is linked to our strong, supportive relationships with all Winnipeg-based end-homelessness and anti-poverty organizations. Through our comprehensive working network with others, we are able to link homeless and other vulnerable citizens to existing programs and services here in St. Boniface and elsewhere in the city of Winnipeg.

No one organization can achieve success on its own but together we can do this!

St. Boniface Street Links in the Community

SBSL provides outreach in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The SBSL Outreach Team works to link unsheltered people to income supports and housing. Our outreach teams include people with lived experience (meaning they've been there, done that), which helps in establishing relationships. A passenger van, loaned to our organization by Winnipeg's Birchwood Automotive Group, has made our outreach work possible and a whole lot of unhoused folks share in our gratitude to all who have made this street-level coverage possible.

Crime Prevention & Harm Reduction in the Community

The SBSL Outreach mandate is as expansive as the area we serve. Our Outreach Team works to enhance the safety and well-being of all who live and work in our coverage area. Winnipeg’s drug epidemic has added a whole new face to homelessness in our city. Increases in commercial and residential property crimes, violence and a shocking number of overdose deaths can be attributed to an escalating drug epidemic. The Team works to provide meaningful interventions to reduce drug-related behaviours, actively get people into detox and treatment programs and, from there, housed with support. 

Our Community Housing Program Continues to Shelter Those in Need

Our housing program is unique in that property owners lease to the SBSL organization. The housing becomes “program housing” and supports those willing to receive services. A wrap-around Team develop treatment-focused care plans. All housed clients received daily wellness checks. This approach appeals to property owners and landlords because each tenant comes with a care plan and services.

We believe that an investment in housing is an investment in public health and public safety as well as life-saving for those who participate as residents.

Morberg House: A place to heal and call home in St. Boniface

Healing from drug addiction takes time -- an individual cannot do it in 28 days. At Morberg House, they don't have to. The success of Moberg House is rooted in a "slow medicine approach" to healing. Thus, a stay at Morberg house is open-ended and focused on addressing the root causes of addiction. Residents stay an average of 4-6 months and move on when they are ready, often into our Community Housing Program where supports continue for up to two years.

Staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Morberg House provides its residents with a high support living environment enveloped by a critical care team that includes psychiatric nursing, social work, occupational therapy and peer support. Addiction is treated as a mental health issue. Our goal is to help individuals address the childhood and complex trauma which is often the root cause of addiction. During their stay at Morberg House, residents share a common space, take on household responsibilities and, most importantly, take time to heal.

Morberg House produces outcomes many times the national average and has emerged as a “beacon of hope” for other cities in Canada that follow us closely. As a matter of fact, the largest portion of donor support comes to us from other provinces.