Hiatus House set to lose $150,000 in historical funding

The Windsor not-for-profit is one of only two emergency shelters in the region for women and children fleeing violent situations.

“When we're working with a three-million dollar budget, to lose $150,000 is really not feasible,” Executive Director Sylvie Guenther said. “We might have to see some staff go and at a time when we know we can be doing more for the women that we're serving.”

Guenther said the money was tied to their mortgage to pay for building operations including heat, hydro and cleaning services.

Now that their mortgage is paid off, Hiatus House has been told that “historical funding” is going away.

“It sends a message of the value and importance of the work that we're doing here for the provincial government to say, ‘yeah, you're just not getting that money’,” Guenther said. “I think it's about the communication between the federal government and provincial government to where the money is just sort of not sticking with us after the mortgage is paid.”

Hiatus House Emergency Shelter entrance in Windsor, Ont. on July 12, 2024. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)Windso

Hiatus House supported 550 women and children in 2023, according to Guenther and she would like to help even more.

For the last few years, she said they have been trying to get funding for a 40-unit transitional housing complex across the street from their facility.

“40 per cent of women leaving a violent relationship start that new life in homelessness. And so, we wonder why it's scary to make the change and leave the relationship,” Guenther said.

She remains optimistic however, that when the time comes, Hiatus House can and will rely on the generosity of residents in Windsor-Essex to support the project.

“We have to be able to do more. We have to be able to do better.”

In a response to CTV News, the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services said:

Hiatus House has been receiving funding since the 1990s through the Dedicated Supportive Housing (DSH) program. This program is governed by the Social Housing Act and a Memorandum of Understanding between the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH).

The funding supports mortgage payments and a portion of the building’s operational costs. Per the DSH funding agreement, funding ends once a mortgage is discharged. According to our database, the mortgage will come to an end and be paid off by August 1, 2024.

We increased funding to Hiatus House to deliver Violence Against Women programming by five per cent in 2024-25 as part of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence (NAP GBV) and the 2024 Ontario Budget investment to support agencies with operational costs.

For 2024-25, the ministry is providing Hiatus House with over $3 million in program funding, including $111,859 for the Dedicated Supportive Housing program. The program funding included an increase, which we provided starting in 2023-24, of $141,034 as part of NAP GBV and Ontario STANDS, our plan to address gender-based violence.