Addressing mental health and addiction issues is one pillar of an over $3.2 million proposed plan to help improve downtown Windsor.
The new Strengthen the Core—Downtown Windsor Revitalization Plan announced Tuesday includes a plan to address health-related issues impacting vulnerable members of the population who live on the streets or spend time in the core.
The proposal would see the lobbying of the upper levels of government to support wrap-around relief programs for vulnerable community members, and help implement and expand social service initiatives based on each government's area of responsibility and priorities.
The plan would also bring together local health leaders to determine the best approach to securing provincial funding for a low-barrier, transitional care facility where individuals experiencing an immediate mental health and/or addiction crisis can be provided with care tailored to their needs.
David Musyj, President and CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, says this is about where people go after the emergency room?
Out of the over $3.2 million that council will be asked to approve for 2024 to fund the overall plan, over $1.47 million will be needed to cover the expanded hours of operation and staffing at the Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H4), ensuring people who are unhoused have a facility they can access prior to the opening of overnight emergency shelters.
Musyj says it's a matter of getting the services together and getting the partners together to come up with solutions.
"It's not in a hospital, it's out in the community. It's working with the community partners to have a place for individuals to go who don't need to be hospitalized. Again, not everybody can be hospitalized, and not everybody should be hospitalized," he says.
Musyj says even after the come to the hospital, where can they go after?
"Seeing someone six weeks, eight weeks, or ten weeks later isn't the solution. They have to have wraparound services where they can go at all hours of the day," he says.
Musyj says this is not just a Windsor-Essex issue, this is an Ontario issue and a national issue, but they can't wait around for someone to hand us money.
"Our strategy is 'let's do something, get it going, and then make that request for the funding,' just like the Nurse-Police Team," he says. "You hope they listen, because the results speak for themselves. So it's doing stuff like that, it's getting all the partners to do that; make the investment out of their own pocket.'
Elements of the plan also include incentives for developers to convert existing buildings into residential units, increasing financial penalties for unkept properties, and exploring the creation of short-term city-funded incentives to stimulate the activation of current vacant commercial spaces.
The city will have a dedicated Ward 3 bylaw property standards enforcement officer, and council will be looking to create or modify existing bylaws to address blight.
The proposal also calls for 12 more officers to be added to the Windsor Police City Central Patrol Team to address drug use and disorderly conduct, discouraging loitering and panhandling on medians and in front of empty storefronts and residential buildings in the downtown core.
An administration report will be going to the May 13 meeting of council for approval of an immediate action strategy to help address some of the urgent priorities, identify the budget requirements to support the plan, and request that financing of the plan proceed to a budget amendment process to allow work to begin.
Click here to read the full report going to the May 13 meeting of council.