One advocate for the homeless in Windsor believes trying to tackle panhandling in the city misses the forest for the trees.
Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis this week asked city administration to produce a report around the likelihood of council prohibiting panhandling in Windsor.
Street Help Administrator Christine Wilson Furlonger believes the source of the problem was created effectively by the past 30 years of city councils, including during Francis' time.
Speaking on AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show, Furlonger says the city should be building more affordable housing.
"We have millions of dollars put aside for all kinds of other projects, but we have nothing for building housing," she continued. "Building affordable housing is our first key for getting people off the streets, into a home of their own, where we can then provide all those extra helps."
She says the issue is complicated, and with the cost of living so high as it is, the effects are being felt by more than just the homeless in the city.
"People are out there panhandling that aren't even homeless, and it's a very complicated problem. If we would build the housing I can see most of this going away. When I first opened Street Help we helped 12 to 25 people in a day, now we're into the hundreds."
Furlonger says various levels of government have been failing on this file, and this is a heartbreaking issue because no one should be left destitute on the street.
She believes energy from councillors would be better spent advocating to the higher levels for funds for housing as opposed to chasing the homeless around the city.
"Let's house everybody. Because shelters are an emergency thing, they're necessary but they're for emergencies. They're not for actually housing people. When you have people living in housing for years, I think we have a significant oversight by our city councils on what is really necessary to make our city great again," Furlonger stated.
She says people, whether in government or just Windsor residents, can complain about homeless until the end of time but unless we do something about it the problem will only get worse.
Furlonger believes this should be a wake-up call to the community that an end goal needs to be established, one that includes affordable housing at the forefront.
- with files from The Dan MacDonald Show