Homeless advocate wants city to do more as winter storm approaches

A person experiencing homelessness receives a drink from a homeless support organization in Windsor, Ont. Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

With a winter storm in Windsor-Essex beginning Thursday night, the administrator for Street Help is calling on the City of Windsor to open a temporary warming centre.

The temperature is expected to drastically drop overnight and stay well below freezing into next week, with periods of snow turning into flurries expected this weekend.

“We see new faces every day. It's outrageous how big the problem has been,” said Christine Wilson-Furlonger.

Christine Wilson-Furlonger said a number of circumstances have forced volunteers to temporarily transform their normal indoor serving area into a place for storage, noting those in need are currently being served through a walk-up window and can’t come inside.

“Where are they going to go? What are they going to do? I fear we're going to have another death,” she said.

Wilson-Furlonger is hoping that officials will open a warming centre, believing there are not enough options for the homeless as the demand continues to grow.

“I have to try and keep legal walkways, so we’re desperate to get shelving finished to get all these boxes off the floor so they’ll be up and out of the way,” she explained. “And sadly we have a little nightmare on our hands and it’s not a very merry Christmas for us coming in.”

In the meantime, the city said they are preparing for worst-case scenarios regarding the storm but said a temporary warming centre is not needed at this time, pointing to other indoor services already being offered.

“There are absolutely options available,” said Jennifer Tanner, manager of homelessness and support, adding the city does not want to see "anybody out in the cold.”

Among those options, she said, are the Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H-4) which operates out of Windsor Water World seven days a week, beds available in the emergency shelter system, the Mobile Outreach and Support Team (MOST) van and the city's outreach workers.

She added the Downtown Mission is prepared to open a 30-seat, overnight warming center if their beds fill up to capacity.

“We're pretty confident that with the existing services that we have in place, there's enough capacity to meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness," Tanner said, adding municipal staff are planning for worst case scenarios should the storm cause power outages for an extended period of time.

"If something catastrophic happened, like a large power outage where people were without heat for a long period of time, that would require a different type of response,” she said.