Due to an overcapacity issue, the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women in Windsor has had to add overflow mats.
The emergency shelter for women and families has 12 beds and off-site space for families at local hotels. But this past weekend, the centre put down six mats to help increase its capacity.
Lady Laforet is the executive director at the centre and says this is a temporary solution.
"At the end of the day, homelessness doesn't wait a day so if you need a bed tonight, you need a bed tonight," says Laforet. "As a women shelter and recognizing that we are the shelter that supports women and families, we need to step up to the plate and find an interim solution while we are waiting for longer term plans to come through."
Laforet hopes to have the overflow situation dealt with quickly.
"This is a temporary gap for us that really just pounds home the need to the community that the need for women specific shelter and family specific shelter services is here and we need to provide safe space," says Laforet.
She says there's an urgency for a larger centre.
"There is a need for expansion not just for our shelter residential area, but bathrooms," says Laforet. "The building is getting older, office space, community space and finding space to do an intake with a family when there could be a mother, father and several children running around in a small office space."
Laforet hopes to have an announcement by the end of this year on a larger building for the shelter.