COMING IN FROM THE COLD
Emergency policies help homeless
With the wind chill at -14C, downtown Windsor on Friday afternoon was a bit warmer than in previous days, but still cold enough that steady streams of folks were drawn to the indoor warmth and free hot coffee at Street Help’s drop-in centre for the homeless.
Street Help doesn’t operate a shelter at its 964 Wyandotte St. E. location, but on nights like this week’s, those living on Windsor’s streets are ushered in and welcome to spend the night. Mats and mattresses are laid out on the floor and usually up to 10 men have a dry and warm place to sleep.
“It’s just too dangerous not to let them stay,” said Street Help executive director Christine Wilson-Furlonger.
At the Downtown Mission, there’s the same emergency policy. Despite a recent shelter expansion to 103 beds, the facility is frequently filled up, but executive director Ron Dunn said mats are being spread out on the floor to accommodate visitor overflows when the mercury plummets.
“We’re not turning anyone away, not in this weather, for sure,” he said, adding some recent overnight temperatures were in the -25C range, factoring in the wind chill.
“It’s terrifying out there — people would literally die,” said Wilson-Furlonger, herself no stranger to living in the street.
Ali Abdullah was one of those who came in out of the cold, thankful Street Help has “let me stay here for now.”
Abdullah, 26, said he’s been homeless for the past month, ever since his uncle moved to Leamington to operate a store and he no longer had a place to stay in the city. After couch-surfing with friends, on Thursday night he was allowed to sleep at Street Help, where the choice of offerings is either the floor or the cafe benches. On Friday afternoon, one of those benches was occupied by a sleeping man who was brought in by a volunteer one night after having been discovered sleeping on the sidewalk outside.
“Once they’re inside, they’re OK — they like to be inside,” said Anthony Nelson, who has volunteered at Street Help the past four years. He expected up to 10 of Windsor’s homeless to spend the night.
“We’re encouraging people to come to us and to stay indoors as much as possible,” said Dunn. The mission’s doors are usually closed at 1 a.m., but “when it’s really cold, we make exceptions.”
Dunn encourages anyone who spots someone appearing in need of help and wandering the streets in the bitter cold to call the police or emergency services. “Someone with mental-health issues might not have the mental capacity to get in out of the cold,” he said.
Despite record-cold local temperatures, there are still those who remain outside. Nelson said one man came into Street Help earlier on Friday and asked for a sleeping bag for his buddy sleeping under a bridge in the west end. “We gave him a heavy-duty sleeping bag.”
In the 2018 municipal budget deliberations in January, city administration is seeking $67,000 in new funding to hire a second street outreach worker to identify and connect with the local homeless. A staff report estimates a 35-percent increase in demand for homelessness services in 2017, with an upward trend forecast to continue in the new year.
“The numbers have exploded,” said Wilson-Furlonger. But she said she would rather have any new government funding go towards providing actual places to live.
“They need affordable, healthy and stable housing,” she said. “Getting social workers out there is not going to fix the situation — housing is going to fix the situation.”
Ottawa recently announced it was investing $40 billion over 10 years to combat chronic homelessness in Canada, and Windsor housing advocates are hoping for a local share. But Windsor and Essex County were shut out from the $200 million the provincial government recently announced it would spend by 2025 on the same issue.
Dunn said he applauds the city for wanting to do more outreach, in part because it shows the municipality recognizes there’s a local homelessness crisis. But the next step, he added, has to be more emphasis on finding places for people in such circumstances to live.
“If you know of a place to stay, my social worker said they’ll pay,” said Abdullah. “It’s hard to find a place, especially if you’re alone.”
Due to the need for overnight supervision, Street Help is only allowing men to spend the night because of a lack of women willing to volunteer to keep an eye on its emergency guests.
Getting social workers out there is not going to fix the situation — housing is going to fix the situation.