New emergency overnight shelter spaces at Windsor's Homelessness and Housing Help Hub have been filled to capacity since opening this week.
On Monday, the city opened 35 warming spaces at the hub, also known as H4, in the former Water World at Wayndotte Street East.
Windsor's Commissioner of Human and Health Services, Andrew Daher, says they've been at capacity every single night.
"We're getting these folks off the street and out of the encampments, and it's helping. I can't say everyone is out of the encampments; however, with that being said, we've opened up 73 additional spaces within our community, so this is great news," he says.
On Dec. 9, 2024, the city council approved a plan to temporarily increase the number of emergency shelter spaces in Windsor-Essex for those experiencing homelessness thanks to funding from a federal program.
Out of the 73 new warming spaces approved for the regional shelter system, 35 were allocated to H4 and the other 38 spaces were assigned to the Salvation Army, the Welcome Centre for Women and Families, and the Essex County Homelessness Hub.
Daher says there is definitely demand for the spaces.
"Clearly we're seeing full uptake at the H4, so we have anecdotally that some folks are going from the Downtown Mission and using the H4 as well. We know that many of these folks are coming off the street, and that is our prime and ultimate goal: to get these folks off the street, especially in this cold and frigid weather," he says.
As part of Windsor's Strengthen the Core plan, the hours of operation at H4 expanded from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m., seven days a week. The new emergency spaces are available from 12 a.m. to 8 a.m., seven days a week.
The spaces approved in December by the council are on top of the 187 shelter spaces available across the regional shelter system.
The Downtown Mission overnight warming centre also continues to operate as a year-round overnight drop-in centre, offering 38 additional spaces.