• Winnipeg-based Ma Mawi Chi Itata Centre has created a 22-unit tiny home community.
• Based on Indigenous healing principles, Astum Api Niikinaahk provides much more than housing. It offers connection to culture, workshops and teachings in a safe, secure environment.
• In keeping with Ma Mawi Chi Itata’s focus on families, residents are referred to as ‘relatives.’
• Thanks to the support provided by the staff at Astum Api Niikinaahk, relative and singer-songwriter Jason Bell has found a sense of calm and space to reflect.

Framed by a gradient of blue and green doorways, Jason casually strums his guitar.

It’s a peaceful scene – one that, until recently, he has been unaccustomed to.

Jason moved to Astum Api Niikinaahk in January, 2023 and became a ‘relative’ at the 22-unit tiny home community.

A member of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, he moved to Winnipeg about 5 years ago to attend university.

“Then COVID hit. I lost my apartment. Then back home, my house burned. I had nowhere to go.”

He was living in a nearby shelter when he saw Astum being built and decided to ask about it.

Working together for better outcomes

Astum was created by Ma Mawi Chi Itata Centre, which translates from Ojibway into the phrase, “We all work together to help one another.”

For almost 40 years the Winnipeg-based organization has been helping families find Indigenous solutions to rebuild, heal and grow. But there was a gap in what they were able to offer, and they were keen to close it.

"Without affordable housing and without a place to be, it’s hard to heal," says Lanna Many Grey Horses, program support manager, Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata.

The lack of suitable housing options for Indigenous peoples has been well documented by End Homelessness Winnipeg. The organization works to address and prevent homelessness in Winnipeg on various fronts including creating a person-centre system of care, increasing housing supply and measuring progress towards ending homelessness.

Even though Indigenous peoples constitute about 14% of Winnipeg’s population, they are over-represented in homelessness.

An Indigenous-led solution

In 2019 Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata began a series of community consultations to explore possible housing solutions.

Throughout the winter, representatives from Ma Mawi and partner agencies visited housing encampments in the South Point Douglas neighbourhood. They asked the people living there what was important to them in a home – what they needed to heal.

The consultations identified a desire for supportive, Indigenous-led housing.

Without affordable housing and without a place to be, it’s hard to heal.

By summer 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic had created a health emergency and worsened the housing situation for Winnipeg’s unsheltered.

“Individuals had difficulty accessing affordable housing options, and organizations struggled to provide adequate levels of service to those experiencing, or at risk of homelessness,” says Jason.

Meanwhile, Indigenous-led organizations met to establish core principles for a new Winnipeg-based housing project. It was also determined that the project would be guided by an Elders Circle.

Come sit at our home

Astum Api Niikinaahk translates from Cree and Michif to, “Come Sit at our Home.”

“What we wanted to capture, was a replica of a village,” says Lanna. “It’s really framed in an Indigenous approach to healing and connection to community.”

Located within easy reach of nearby support services, the development comprises 22 self-contained units, 4 of which are designed for people with disabilities.

Each unit includes a bed, bathroom, fridge and kitchenette. Wildlife artwork sits above every entranceway.

The homes face inward, around a sacred fire.

Completing the circle is ‘the lodge’ – a separate building for cultural activities, celebrations, sweats, workshops, community programming, teachings and community kitchens.

We’re not a shelter, we’re a healing lodge.

The lodge’s ‘round room’ is decorated with dried sage and is home to traditional medicines and books on healing. The room hosts sharing circles that are open to staff members and relatives.

“It’s just a safe place to discuss things of importance or just things that we want to get off our chest,” says housing coordinator Donna Walstrom.

Connection and re-connection to culture is central to Astum’s approach.

Programming includes land-based healing where residents can explore off-site activities such as fishing, hunting and medicine picking.

“I think some of it is really impactful emotionally, spiritually,” says Lanna. “Because I think for so long, a lot of them have been told that that was not accessible to them.”

Community-driven healing lodge

Each new community member is referred to as a ‘relative.’

“It’s more personable,” says Donna, whose key role is to helps to stabilize new relatives within the village.

“Initially, when people are coming in, they’re coming from an encampment situation where they’re always on guard,” says Lanna. “We want to make sure that they feel safe. They can lock their door. Things that you and I take for granted.”

The team makes sure that basic needs are met. This could include helping people get identification or re-establish connections with social services.

For those living with addiction challenges, there is no requirement for sobriety to join the community and start their healing.

“We meet them where they are at,” says Donna. “We’re not a shelter, we’re a healing lodge.”

The approach acknowledges that healing looks different for everyone. While some relatives will take a week to heal, says Donna, others can take months, a year or longer.

“And so, when they sign a lease, there’s a start date, but no end date.”

One of the biggest barriers to healing raised during the community consultations, was visitors. For some, on-site guests had been a reason why they were asked to leave a particular housing situation.

“It’s one of those things where you think, it could be helpful at some times and it can be, as they said, a barrier to being successful,” says Lanna. “We had to trade that off.”

The team decided to try out ‘no visitors,’ with the option to revisit later.

“So far, I think that ability for them to walk into the space and to have it just be for them…it’s been pretty successful,” says Lanna.

A moment of peace

“Since I was younger, I always wrote poems,” says Jason. Songwriting came later.

Walking back to a shelter after playing his music downtown, someone ran up behind him. It was a producer, offering to record some of his songs. Unfortunately, Jason’s guitar was stolen shortly after so he couldn’t pursue the opportunity.

With a new guitar, and a little peace of mind, he can focus on writing again.

“I can breathe,” he says. “I write quite a bit. It’s an emotional release. It’s not always about rainbows and sunshine. I do go down that dark hole once in a while but, I think it’s kind of like healing for me.”

He has a friend with a studio and has done some recording.

I can breathe…I write quite a bit. It’s an emotional release…I do go down that dark hole once in a while but, I think it’s kind of like healing for me.

When he needs support, the Astum staff are there for him. More than anything, his home at Astum has offered him a chance to pause and think about what he wants to do next.

Model village

The team is grateful to the partners for helping to make the project happen and overcome the challenges of building during the pandemic. “There were delays…and cost increases,” says Lanna. “A lot of fundraising needed to happen.”

“End Homelessness Winnipeg was incredibly pleased to be a part of this ambitious and innovative project,” says Jason Whitford. “To see that these units have been filled and that the residents are receiving the necessary resources and supports to transition into a safe, sustainable, healthy and affordable lifestyle is incredibly important for the community. It shows that good ideas are out there and – once executed – can be a model to be replicated across Winnipeg and beyond.”

Lanna and the Ma Mawi team would love to be able to recreate another tiny home village and have already been approached by several groups, offering their support.

“We know that all across Canada, Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by homelessness. But it’s more than that,” says Lanna. “It’s about connection to culture, it’s about connection to tradition and making sure that healing happens.”

As we leave Astum, Jason chats with staff in the lodge and Donna sits with another relative outside in the sun. Her earlier words ring true.

“Being a family, you get things done quicker, better, faster. There’s more support. We really do grow to love them, and they love us.”

KEY FACTS 

• Astum Api Niikinaahk was supported in part by the Affordable Housing Fund (formerly the National Housing Co-Investment Fund. This National Housing Strategy initiative supports projects that target the needs of vulnerable Canadians, including women and children fleeing family violence, seniors, Indigenous peoples, people living with disabilities, those with mental health or addiction issues, veterans, and young adults.
• The project is supported by End Homelessness Winnipeg, Thunderbird House, Ka Ni Kanichihk, Eagle Urban Transition Centre, and The Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg.
• Additional support and programming provided by Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg, and Aboriginal Wellness
• Operational support provided by the United Way, End Homelessness Winnipeg, and the Government of Manitoba.

SEE ALSO

• Canada backs supportive tiny home project in Winnipeg | CMHC (cmhc-schl.gc.ca)