The Essex County Homelessness Hub is seeing a surge in usage.
The Hub, located on Talbot Street East in Leamington, has been open to the public since October 2022, and since opening has seen a 30 per cent increase in usage year-over-year.
The Hub offers both daytime and overnight programming to support individuals experiencing homelessness locally.
In 2024, the daytime programs saw 3,500 visits, and the overnight program saw over 900 visits, by approximately 323 unique people. A year later, over 5,000 visits accessed the daytime program, while over 1,600 visits utilized the overnight program by 345 unique people.
The daytime program operates seven days a week, and provides wraparound supports including housing navigation, replacing identification, assistance accessing income support programs, harm reduction resources, eviction prevention, and access to food, clothing, and hygiene items.
Meanwhile, the overnight program runs seven days a week, and offers shelter from the heat in the summer, and the cold in the winter.
Bryan Rock, Community Programs Manager at Family Services Windsor-Essex, says the increase is staggering.
"The 2024 calendar year we saw about 3,500 people come through our daytime program, and for our overnight program we saw about 950 people. Last year, the 2025 year, our daytime program saw 5,000 visitors, and our overnight programs saw 1,650."
The overnight program at the Homelessness Hub is funded by the County of Essex.
He says the overnight program was expected to run until March 2026, but it has since been extended.
"They're very aware of the numbers that come through our doors, they've always been committed to increasing whatever services they can provide at the Hub. So, we were lucky enough when they were reviewing the budget that they were able to announce to us that the overnight program is going to continue operations through 2026."
Rock says inflation is a driving factor to the increase in usage.
"The primary concern is the availability of affordable housing, like all places we continue to struggle with having enough affordable housing for these folks. This year, we're seeing a lot more people enter into homelessness due to the fact that they're no longer able to pay their rent, or they're no longer able to meet their needs."
Rock says on a daily basis, they see between 30 to 35 visitors during the day, and 15 to 20 visitors overnight.
The overnight program is funded with a blend of provincial, federal and county funding.
During the 2026 budget deliberations, County Council voted in favour of covering the shortfall required to fund the program until the end of the year, which is approximately $114,000.