Windsor’s homeless looking for the next warm place to stay

By Millar Hill

As temperatures begin to drop and the weather gets colder, homeless people in Windsor will be  looking for the next couch, park bench, door way or shelter to keep warm during the night. Darrin Hartley, knows what that is like.

Four years ago, he was homeless for roughly seven months.  At the time he was a heavy narcotics user, which led to him being homeless.

 

“I ended up not losing everything but giving it away to feed my addiction,” said Hartley. “After a while of being on the streets with nowhere to go or nowhere to turn, you kind of see the other door. You want to get out of your addiction.”

 

Hartley explained that he would spend his evenings walking around aimlessly trying to find a warm place. He often had a place to go for a few hours, but he would never over-stay his welcome, so a lot of the time, he was wondering where he would go next.

 

“If you can’t find a doorway to block the wind, you go find a couch to sleep on at a friends, you go back to your mom or dad’s or you’re sitting in a park somewhere with a buddy, trying to stay warm,” he said.

 

In Windsor, there are five shelters that offer a place to sleep overnight, which include the Salvation Army, The Downtown Mission, and the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women, Windsor Residence for Young Men and the Hiatus House.  Aside from providing shelter, a variety of clothing banks throughout the city to provide the homeless with proper clothing during the winter.

 

“If a homeless person can’t find shelter, they are going to find places in the community like benches, nooks in between buildings, alley ways and parking garages,” said Colm Holmes, who works to house chronically-homeless individuals for the Windsor-Essex Housing Connections.

 

The WEHC works to approach homelessness in Windsor and Essex County to provide services with the Housing First model. Housing first is a service to people who have been homeless for a period of time over six months.  The chronically homeless are given priority and are housed.

 

Each month, roughly five to 15 homeless individuals are housed by the WEHC. According to Holmes, the need to help is always going to be present. People are always going to require help and support.

 

“I feel like I am lucky enough to be able to help those people in need, who have experiences of homelessness, yes that I am removed from but can relate to with regards to struggle and the over all need of an individual to support you,” said Holmes.