Windsor homelessness at crisis level

By: Noah Gecelovsky

 

Homelessness in Windsor is a rising problem that continues to go overlooked by many across the province. 

The most recent example of neglect in dealing with the homeless situation comes from the provincial government denying Windsor’s application for the $200 million fund created to combat homelessness across Ontario. 

According to Statistics Canada, Windsor is home to the highest number of children growing up in low-income homes. There are approximately 16,000 children — or one in four — who will grow up at risk of becoming homeless or being homeless for any period of time. 

Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky has fought against the Liberal-run provincial government for their dismissal of Windor’s homelessness crisis. 

“Our community wants answers as to why we weren’t selected. We clearly have a need for more resources,” said Lisa Gretzky. “There is no sound reason to deny funding to our region.” 

Christine Wilson-Furlonger is the administrator at Street Help, a local shelter. She has seen a large increase in people coming to her organization for help.  

When Wilson-Furlonger spoke with CBC in September in an article that said Windsor’s homeless problem has reached crisis level, she said that Street Help would typically hand out about 300 sleeping bags in a year, but as of Sept. 2017 they had distributed approximately 500 — a 166.7 per cent increase in just nine months. That is 56 sleeping bags each month, if the trend continues it would be approximately 670 sleeping bags by the end of the year. 

“When [Street Help] started, we would serve around 12 people a day. Now we serve about 300,” said Wilson-Furlonger. “We don’t want to make money off the backs of the homeless, we want to work ourselves out of a job.”  

Wilson-Furlonger had her experience with on-and-off homelessness as well, after she fled a foster home she was not comfortable in at a young age. After a lot of hard work, she made it her mission to fight against homelessness and, like she said, “…work [herself] out of a job.” 

According to the City of Windsor website, there are hundreds of people throughout Windsor and Essex-County who are at risk of homelessness. The website says people who spend more than 50 per cent of their income on rent as well as people in unsafe living conditions are at the greatest risk.  

The 2016 Windsor-Essex Annual Housing and Homelessness Report states that from the period of Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2016, the total bed nights spent at the Downtown Mission increased to about 13,000 — eight percent more from the total bed nights in 2015 which was a little more than 11,950. 

With a homeless problem as crippling as Windsor’s, the decision to overlook relief funding to a city with homelessness at crisis level is one that puzzles residents. Funding aside, according to Wilson-Furlonger it will take more than $200 million to make progress in the fight against homelessness.