Winnipeg's housing crisis - in 1936

Winnipeg Tribune, April 24, 1936

In April 1936 Reverend James W. Clarke of Knox Church addressed the Local Council of Women about the deplorable housing conditions many Winnipeggers are forced to live in. 

His church recently conducted a housing survey of two districts. In “District 2”, Notre Dame Avenue north to the CPR tracks, they found an average of 3.3 families living in each house and 96 families occupying attics. He said:

Then it came to me, seeing these deplorable conditions, that as a community we are guilty of a major crime….a crime against children … against families ….

The other district was "Sherbrook Street south to the Assiniboine River", certainly a more middle class area. There, the overcrowding was worse, with an average of 4.1 families living in each house. Of those, 731 families lived and cooked in the same room.