Frustration grows with drug use, people living in bus shelters in downtown Winnipeg

Longtime residents speak out while a homeless advocate points to a housing solution
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Shattered glass, garbage and a needle litter a dilapidated downtown bus shelter on Portage Avenue.
Nearby, beside the now shuttered Hudson's Bay store, someone is lying on a bench inside a bus shelter while Winnipeg Transit riders wait outside.
"This is not my downtown Winnipeg," said Kathleen Gibbons, 73, who is fed up with seeing this sight every day.
"I see a great change for the worst. I think the homelessness has increased, they are far more visible. Damaged buildings - you know, I've seen lots of buildings that have cardboard or wood on the windows because they've been smashed."
Gibbons has lived downtown for 14 years and grew up coming to the area as a kid to shop at Eaton's department store, which was demolished in 2003.
The retired social worker, who worked with the homeless, said she doesn't feel safe waiting inside a bus shack for Winnipeg Transit.
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