City of Windsor officials are working hard behind the scenes on their work related to the Homelessness & Housing Help Hub, including preparations to submit a business case to upper levels of government for financial support.
On Monday, councillors approved a report that would see administration prepare an official letter on behalf of council to advocate to the upper levels for operating and capital dollars to expand supportive housing in Windsor Essex.
In addition, the Commissioner of Human & Health Services and Executive Director of Housing & Children's Services were directed to seek endorsement from the Windsor Essex Ontario Health Team to pursue the additional resources necessary to expand mental health and addiction support at the H4.
Administration officials say the H4 has become a critical component of the homelessness serving system and has allowed them along with community partners to understand what needs are being met and unmet through traditional program offerings.
The H4 currently operates in the former Windsor Water World site downtown, but back in April, it was announced council was moving ahead with property in the 700-block of Wellington Avenue near Wyandotte Street West as the permanent site for the hub.
During the discussion on Monday, officials detailed how the plan includes working to build at least 120 supportive housing units as soon as possible, with another 230 to be built over the next five years.
The key for the city's application will be discussing the advantages of saving money through the entire system by following this plan, as there are significant financial savings when individuals are treated with proper services as opposed to the way it's been done previously.
That includes diversions from the ER and having clients show up to their referral appointments.
Commissioner of Human & Services Andrew Daher says this program is not sustainable at the municipal level without funding support from other levels.
"City council set aside $20-million already for this initiative, but we're going to be upwards of the range closer to $60-million for this at least. We need the upper levels of government to come in and provide us with the funding to support it because it can't be on the back of the municipalities," he said.
Daher says they have to advocate and continue to push because it's not the municipality's responsibility to fund an initiative like this fully.
He says the discussions have been good internally and they strongly believe in their case.
"If you're trying to do a business pitch to any organization, any venture capitalist, or person, you have to show that there's a return on their investment. And just to say that we're having a certain amount of people coming through, we have to show that there's outcomes. This is why it's so, so important in our world that we're focused on data. We have the data to back us up and we have the data to prove that this is going to be a success."
Hours at the H4 were expanded a few months back through the Strengthen the Core plan, and as a result, Daher says they now have three full time equivalent positions that they're working with through the local Canadian Mental Health Association.
"We're also providing additional supports, expanding the hours around housing information services, so that's the organization that provides housing supports at the H4. So we have supports there at night time as well and we're just looking at innovative ways to make sure they're engaged and keeping them active," he said.
Daher says within the next few months they'll be prepared to submit their case to the upper levels of government.