Steinbach Builds 30-Suite Housing With 24/7 Mental Health Care

When a woman spent three days trying to get mental health help before losing her home to eviction, Charlene Kroeker knew something had to change.

Kroeker manages Steinbach Community Outreach, which serves 1,000 people yearly in this rural Manitoba community. She watched her client's frustration turn to anger after waiting three days for care, leading to a confrontation with her landlord and ultimately homelessness.

"Had she gotten access to mental health on the first day and gotten her meds adjusted, that would not have happened," Kroeker said. "She would not have ended up homeless."

Now Kroeker is partnering with Eden Health Care Services to bring The Bridge on Third to Steinbach. The proposed 30-suite apartment building will house people experiencing homelessness or on the verge of losing their homes due to mental health challenges.

The game changer? Psychiatrists and social workers will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No more three-day waits when crisis hits.

Eden Health housing director Leighton Knapp said some residents may need support for the rest of their lives. Others will eventually transition to independent living with minimal help.

The concept mirrors what's already working 40 miles south in Winkler. Central Commons opened there in September with 28 apartments using the same model.

Brandon Black, 31, moved into Eden Health's Linden Place residence in Winkler in September 2023 when his anxiety became overwhelming. Today he paints, plays guitar and bass, and connects with others over coffee who understand what he's going through.

"For me, I kind of get out of my shell and talk more," Black said. He's now eyeing Central Commons as his next step toward independence.

The Ripple Effect

The housing and mental health partnership does more than help individual tenants. It frees up hospital beds across the region.

Psychiatrist Matthew Toews, medical director of Eden Health, said his team often struggles to discharge patients who've recovered mentally but have nowhere safe to go. Stable housing means fewer readmissions and more hospital capacity for people in acute crisis.

James Friesen, board chair of Central Community Homes in Winkler, put it simply: "It doesn't matter if you have addictions, mental health issues, just whatever range of challenges in your life. If you have a safe place to live that you can afford, you can get the other pieces together."

Those pieces come together at Central Station Community Centre, where tenants learn budgeting, cooking, cleaning and conflict resolution. Executive director Anita Wiebe said the goal isn't just getting people housed but keeping them housed.

For rural communities where mental health resources remain scarce, Steinbach's Bridge on Third represents a lifeline that could prevent the kind of three-day wait that cost Kroeker's client her home.