SAFE BEDS FOR HOMELESS
New program helps people in crisis
Windsor police have increasingly been called upon to deal with persons on streets battling mental-health or addiction issues.
But many of those struggling often have no place to call home — instead primarily living a life mixed of surfing through an unending stream of help programs, being briefly incarcerated by police or sent to hospitals to be dealt with.
A new “safe bed” program unveiled this week jointly by the Canadian Mental Health Association and Hotel-dieu Grace Healthcare will provide Windsor police an option for assisting those in crisis situations who are homeless.
A home within the downtown core has been purchased and renovated for the new program. It initially will offer four beds and housing support for 16 hours each day — including overnight — for those who are suffering from addictions or mental-health problems.
“Windsor police are spending a lot of their time on these people, but often it’s not appropriate for them to be incarcerated or hospitalized,” said Steve Govette, CMHA’S manager of housing facilities and employment services.
“They are often homeless and have nothing to stabilize them.
“This is designed to fill that gap and take pressure off policing, so they can get back to what they are supposed to be doing.”
People on the street suitable for assistance under the safe bed program will now be referred by police to the new home for assistance.
Those referred to the home must be “rational” and capable of following “house guidelines,” Govette said. Males and females over the age of 16 are eligible to be referred by police.
Once there, trained staff are on hand to assess a person’s needs and “get the right support for folks in crisis,” Govette said.
A maximum stay at the home for any individual is 30 days, he said.
The goal is sometime within the 30-day limit to secure an individual with a “permanent stable housing option,” Govette said.
“We also will work with them on long-term plans and get them on the path to recovery,” he said.
Similar programs have proven successful in others cities across the province, such as in Kitchener-waterloo and the GTA, Govette said.
An initial $600,000 investment in the program is being supported by Ontario’s Health Ministry.
The home’s location is in the downtown core, but withheld for privacy and security reasons.
“This is the first one here (in Windsor),” Govette said.
“Ideally, we would like more funding for it to be available 24/7, but this is the funding we have been given.”
The home is being made available to those who receive referrals between the hours of 4 p.m. in the afternoon until 8 a.m. the following day.
Other locations in the city, such as the Transitional Stability Centre
operated by Hotel-dieu Grace in the 700 block of Ouellette or Downtown Mission, will provide “meal and program support” during the daytime hours for those in need.
“Our capacity right now is four beds,” Govette said.
“We do have additional capacity (in the house), but no funding right now.
“We are hoping to show good outcomes — among those would be releasing police from dealing with mental health issues, seeing people spend less time in the emergency rooms and in custody.”