Windsor city council has approved temporary emergency funding to help reopen some beds at the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families while a permanent, long-term funding solution is sought.
Council voted 10-1 in favour of the funding, with Ward 6 Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac casting the lone vote against, during Monday’s meeting that featured nearly 20 delegations advocating for funding support.
The funding in the motion from Ward 9 Councillor Kieran McKenzie is a prorated amount that will provide $60,000 to the shelter to add emergency capacity until the 2027 budget deliberations, at which time a discussion will take place around permanent funding along with additional capacity through the shelter system.
It is expected the money will be drawn from the homelessness reserve fund.
The issue around available beds was raised in May when the shelter issued a letter that said it is unable to meet growing demand for beds without stable funding, stating a $192,000 request earlier that month to add 12 beds was turned down by the City of Windsor.
At issue was a lack of funding from the upper levels of government to allocate to homelessness services, including the shelter.
Shelter Executive Director Lady Laforet says the council made a very strategic decision, and they can now move to add staff to service the beds.
“It lets us flip the rest of 2026 in a lot more positive way that hopefully will see a lot more women get into service by the end of the month,” she says.
The shelter is currently operating at capacity.
Laforet says the big piece is adding the beds and getting the beds open.
“It gets me another housing worker, which gets my case ratios down to having housing workers who can hit the ground running, going out in the community and attending viewings with them and a case manager who can help us with the really increasingly complex medical cases that we’re seeing of some women who otherwise would have to turn away because we wouldn’t be able to support,” she says.
Mayor Drew Dilkens, who voted in favour of the funding, says council had a chance to get more information to make an appropriate decision.
“I also take Councillor Gignac’s point here that what was decided is not sustainable. It is going to be very difficult for city council in future years to step into the shoes of the provincial or federal government in terms of funding,” he says.
Ward 3 Councillor Renaldo Agostino says something is working at the centre, and that is helping the situation.
“Is it going to open up Pandora’s Box? Are we going to have a lineup of people coming down and saying, ‘I need this and I need that.’ Maybe that’s not such a bad thing if more people come to us because at least they get to explain to us what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and whether it’s working or not,” he says.
Ward 10 Councillor Jim Morrison voted in favour of the funding even though he felt the current situation was not sustainable and would have an impact on the next budget.
“It’s also setting such a precedent here that it makes this very risky, and I don’t like risk. At the end of the day, I’ll go with my heart on this one over my brain,” he says.
Shelter Executive Director Lady Laforet says they need to now do a deeper dive in terms of advocacy to support the municipality and put pressure back on the province.
“It was really exciting to see them say that regardless of the provincial appetite for the funding, we have to determine today what type of community we want to build. Today let us know we have a current council that wants to build a community that’s inclusive for women and some of our most vulnerable,” she says.
The Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families is located at 500 Tuscarora Avenue in downtown Windsor, offering shelter services for those experiencing homelessness. It has beds for up to 32 single women and 21 families.