Windsor’s Welcome Centre Shelter for Women & Families says it is unable to meet growing demand for beds without stable funding and is turning to the community for extra support.
The organization says a $192,000 request earlier this month to add 12 beds was turned down by the City of Windsor.
It says both city and internal data show growing demand, and the funding would have made eight temporary beds permanent while adding four more to boost capacity.
Executive director Lady Laforet says the shelter is already operating extra beds without funding, which isn’t sustainable.
“We have no federal dollars whatsoever. We did request our first increase in five years to our provincial funding, that was declined,” she said.
“Then we did also ask municipality to use some surpluses, reserve dollars, to help us get those 12 beds added to the system, but ultimately those were declined as well.”
Laforet said fewer spaces will push women into unsafe situations.
“We are seeing more women who are pushed back to other co-ed shelters,” she said.
“They are choosing either not to access those, they might be choosing encampments, they might be staying in unsafe situations, and ultimately it’s going to mean less women able to come in and get access to the services that are going to hopefully shorten their homelessness and get them back into housing the community, which is ultimately where they belong.”
Laforet said unpredictable revenue makes planning difficult and asks for extra community support.
“We know that as an agency, 60 per cent of our donations come in at Christmas over about a five-week period, and every year you have to wonder, will it be the same, will it be more, will it be less?” she said.
“So that simple shift of trying to get people to really push towards monthly giving gives us that predictability to help us plan, help us decide what programs we’re going to add on and how we maintain the ones we currently have.”
In a statement to AM800 News, the city says all funding is already allocated for the year, so it cannot provide additional support beyond its current contributions.
The city, which owns the building and covers utilities and maintenance, added that there is still capacity across the shelter system and it will keep advocating for more funding from senior governments.
-With files from AM800’s The Kyle Horner Show with guest host Brian Masse