Windsor mayoral candidate Chris Holt shares plans to address homelessness and mental health

Mayoral candidate Chris Holt during a media conference where he unveiled his plans for homelessness and mental health in Windsor, Ont. on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. (Rich Garton/CTV News Windsor)

Windsor mayoral candidate Chris Holt shared his plan to address mental health and homelessness in the city Wednesday promising a municipally-funded mental health emergency room downtown.

Holt said he is committed to launching a two-to-three year pilot project that would bring the emergency room downtown, with a plan to eventually shift the program to the province.

"There's no project that is more valuable or important than this one. This is the work that needs to be done. We need to make investments in our people,” he said.

Holt said policing resources are being tied up at hospital emergency rooms, when a specialized mental health-focused ER could be a better use of resources.

“We cannot continue to treat these issues as criminal in nature,” he said. “[This pilot] is a solution that keeps human dignity at its core, and offers tangible outcomes for all of us.”

Holt said after consulting with Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare, he estimates the project will cost $9 million.

To cover the project’s cost, he said he will cancel the already-approved street car display on the riverfront as well as planned water slides upgrades at Adventure Bay.

“We've heard loud and clear that we have certain issues, social issues that are keeping people from the downtown core. We need to fix those issues. They're structural, if they're keeping people from the downtown or they will also be keeping people from the trolley beacon from the Adventure Bay,” Holt said. “We need to fix the core the structure of this issue happening downtown before we go spending on legacy projects.”

Holt also said he plans to work with the Downtown Mission to find a solution to their location and space needs. He said the support will include adding an outdoor area at the current Mission to get clients a place to stay during the day.