Caesars Windsor Cares is supporting Hiatus House’s plans for a transitional housing project.
The casino through its Caesars Makes Change donation program has provided $11,461 towards the project.
Hiatus House Executive Director Sylvie Guenther says the money will go towards sponsoring the name on the door of one of the units.
The project, called “A Place to Heal,” was announced in 2022.
The proposed transitional housing project would include 40 units and would be located across the street from the current Hiatus House building on Louis Avenue at Chatham Street East.
Guenther says there’s been a lot of activity around the project lately.
“We’ve been talking with Build Canada Homes, and we’ve been talking with our province in an effort to establish capital funding to make the project a reality,” says Guenther. “We’ve also been in conversation with the City of Windsor about getting their support generally for this project in the community.”
She says roughly $2.5 million has already been raised for the project.
“We know that just by seeing the donations coming forward that there are a lot of people that are interested in making this a reality for Windsor-Essex,” she says.
Guenther says Hiatus House continues to work with its architect consultants.
“The plans are ready,” says Guenther. “We’ve received initial approvals from the city for variances to make sure the building can be there, and so we’re that much closer. We’re also starting to look at bringing in a general contractor to provide us more specific pricing details.”
Last July, Hiatus House provided an update on the project and at that time said $1.3 million was raised and the expected cost of the project was $26 million.
Guenther says they’re ready to put a shovel in the ground if major funding sources come through.
She says once a shovel is in the ground, it’s expected to take 12 to 18 months to construct the building.