The Commissioner of Human and Health Services for the City of Windsor says enough is enough when it comes to changes to the federal government's asylum claimants process and the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP).
"We're sending a message to say enough is enough. We can't fund this, and we won't," says Andrew Daher.
Daher spoke alongside Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens on Wednesday stressing concerns with the federal government changing this process. Currently, the feds are responsible for providing all funding for housing and feeding the asylum claimants.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has issued departure notices for at least 840 asylum claimants in two Windsor hotels by March 3, raising concerns about homelessness and local shelter capacity.
Of 846 notices, 191 were for January 15 where all were accommodated or left the city. For February 3, 136 notices were given, with 34 accommodated and 102 not. And for March 3, 519 notices were issued, with 16 accommodated and 503 not. The lease for the hotel rooms are expiring by March 31.
IHAP changes mean municipalities and provinces will bear more financial responsibility, with funding criteria that would need to be met.
Daher says the city has been successful in helping those who have already had to depart from the hotels.
"The team has been fantastic. We've been working with partners like MCC, YMCA, WEST, and other organizations to try to find housing, or alternative housing for them. But, let's be clear, 519 people in March, I'm not sure we're going to be able to have those same outcomes."
He says if non-profits want to do this work to help asylum claimants, they should be able to work with the federal government instead.
"What we asked IRCC during the last couple of months is are you willing to actually partner up with those non-profit organizations to fund them directly so that the municipality doesn't have to be involved, and they were very clear in saying no, there will be another opportunity for non-profits on a smaller scale to apply for this funding, but they were very clear that they would not do that."
Daher says IRCC says some of the asylum claimants have found employment, and this is the time for them to find housing.
"So this is why we've got to continue to work with all of our partners. I can tell you we've dedicated our Ontario Works case workers to the hotels, we have our housing workers, our social workers, we have all hands on deck to try to assist, but we just can't continue to do this without having the additional funding and the supports from the federal government."
The city received $106,000 under IHAP for the current claimants in Windsor and will apply again by January 31 for 2024 costs.
If all three funding criteria are met, the city and the province would be required to contribute a combined five per cent of program costs in the first year, 25 per cent in the second year, and 100 per cent of the costs by 2027 and beyond.
The criteria include that all programs would have to be 100 per cent dedicated to asylum claimants, it has to be a coordinated approach with a plan to house them after a certain amount of time, and that the feds want these programs to be permanently funded by the municipality or the province.
City council will be presented with a report on Monday (Jan 27), with administration recommending against applying for the new IHAP funding due to the cost-sharing requirements and lack of federal funding after 2027.
Instead, administration will suggest that council advocate for long-term federal funding that does not require municipal cost-sharing.
