Please understand plight of homeless

Regarding the homeless problem downtown, I can truly tell you that I sympathize with the problems.

As of two years ago, I was often a fellow resident of the Downtown Mission.

I found at the time it was difficult to find affordable housing, especially dealing with my own mental health and addiction issues.

When I was on the streets, I found most other people on the streets had nowhere to go, no one to turn to or stay with.

We were the misfits of downtown Windsor.

Due to the lack of beds in the mission's “sanctuary,” it was constantly out of room.

While many of the homeless had no bed for the night. I was lucky to have a bed there every night because I was well behaved and kind to others. The ones that weren't, however, where put back on the street.

They were left to sleep on park benches, by the river or in tents. They had no choice.

I eventually found housing, but in a place where I had to lie my way in. I did not disclose that I was a homeless young woman. That seemed to be the only way to get housing.

I was able to afford to stay there through Ontario Works, but only for $350 a month non-negotiable. Therefore, I was staying in housing that was rotten, had cockroaches and filth.

It was the only place I could find.

People in Windsor need to stop and think — or at least acknowledge the homeless.

We may have chosen to be lost, however, we didn't choose to have mental health issues or addictions that end up keeping us in the bad place we call our home — the streets.

Elaine Blunt, Windsor