'Out of control': Downtown Windsor councillor urges city to rethink shelter locations
Others say services need to be easily accessible
More than a year after the City of Windsor unveiled a sweeping plan to revitalize the downtown core, violent crime and open drug use remain a serious problem, according to the councillor who represents the area.
"In the past three days, I've witnessed a street brawl, multiple blocks of cars getting scratched, people chasing down those people that allegedly scratched all the cars," said Ward 3's Renaldo Agostino during Monday's city council meeting.
The frustrated councillor urged the city to produce a report on the recommendation that a new homeless shelter be located within a two-kilometre radius of the city's centre, as well as the placement of shelters more broadly.
"We need to do something in our downtown core in regards to some of the situations that are happening because of these shelters," he said. "What we're doing right now clearly is not working."
Agostino's comments come as Windsor stares down the threat of further economic turmoil should U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs — particularly those affecting the auto industry — continue to result in job losses.
But even before Trump was elected to a second term, the city was searching for a spot to build its new Homelessness and Housing Help Hub, known as H4.
WATCH | In December, the city said it will continue its search for a future H4 location:
The current H4 facility, which opened as a response to pandemic-related closures, sits in the former Water World building just east of Ouellette Avenue. The city has described using the old aquatic centre as a "make-do" situation in a building that "fails on many fundamental levels of functionality."
A 2022 report to council said the new facility "will still require close proximity to emergency shelters, health-care providers, harm reduction pharmacies, in addition to other core community agencies."
WATCH | 'It isn't working': Downtown councillor seeks review of shelter location guidelines:
Two kilometres was cited by "participants, staff and service providers [...] as the desired distance for the average participant to be able to travel on foot to seek resources, which are primarily located within the boundaries of Ward 3," the report said.
Agostino questioned that distance while speaking to reporters after Monday's meeting.
"Why is there a two-kilometre radius on this? We should not be in neighbourhoods," he said. "We should not be in business areas. This should not be in a place where we're trying to lift up the area."
Earlier during the meeting, Agostino argued those who use shelters or drug treatment centres in the downtown core are "sitting ducks for predators looking to take advantage of those who need the help," referencing drug dealers who he says park outside service centres.
Agostino also said the city is spending millions "to try and manage issues that clearly have been out of control."
"There is no question [that] downtown Windsor is doing the heavy lifting not just for the city, but for the entire region when it comes to homelessness, mental health and addictions issues," he said.
Distance to health-care providers
Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, executive director of the Downtown Mission, said her organization needs to be "relatively close" to other service providers, such as the hospital and Canadian Mental Health Association.
"When it's further away from shelters, other organizations, the individuals in shelter then can't get to those services as easily. Perhaps they can't get there at all," she said. "If they aren't able to get, you know, a bus or cab […] that sometimes stops them from moving out of shelter."
One man who's staying at the Downtown Mission declined to give his full name, but said that problems with open-air drug use and crime would simply follow any new homeless help facility if the city isn't proactive about preventing problems.
The man, who's from Florida and arrived in Windsor roughly two months ago, said a larger facility like H4 that provides housing and wraparound services would be helpful, but recommended it be enclosed — and clients be checked in so they aren't wandering the streets.
Guelph shelter comparison?
Agostino, in his remarks Monday, pointed to another city — Guelph — as a place where officials are looking at moving some shelter services outside the downtown core.
However, Guelph's mayor says that's not the whole story.
"That's not exactly accurate," Cam Guthrie told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning host Amy Dodge.
"We feel that there is a gap in services between the overnight shelter where people are staying versus what's happening during the daytime."
Guthrie says they're exploring an additional daytime shelter, but they're also mindful of where it goes in the event someone wants to bring it to the downtown, an area he says is already home to a lot of services and institutions surrounding homelessness.
He says the city could put forth a recommendation that includes a geographical area where it doesn't want the shelter to end up. The issue is expected to be discussed at a meeting later this month, according to Guthrie.
"I want our downtown cores to be our centre of commerce, entrepreneurial, event, tourism and attraction and the heartbeat for our downtown [...] and not continue to add to social services," Guthrie said.
WATCH | Here's what some folks on Windsor's streets want you to know about homelessness:
Guelph Coun. Erin Caton, who represents Ward 1, said there aren't any plans to move existing social services from the downtown core.
"I couldn't even imagine trying to bar churches from being in the downtown and offering services that they offer," she said. "Seems a bit silly to me. We actually have quite a lot of services in our downtown."
Caton also said she believes Agostino was referring to Guelph's plans regarding the new daytime shelter service, which would include showers, washrooms, storage and more.
She said a range of people use those types of services, including seniors or even people who can't afford air conditioning, for which some landlords now charge extra.
"At core, these are meal services and these are community spaces for people to come and chat up other people," Caton said. "So it's not one type of person that's using this, unless you consider poverty a type of person, right? It's just people who need food and need community."
Poverty, Caton said, is the core issue — and municipalities are being forced "to put band aids on things that are provincial issues." Cities need funding for housing — which has become unaffordable for many people on disability — as well as substance abuse and mental health programs, she said.
"So unless we're willing to really put in the resources to help solve poverty, then we're going to get crime, we're going to get everything else because people don't have any choices," she said.
'Greater variety' of downtown housing needed
Dorian Moore, a local architect and urban planner, said sufficient housing — and "a greater variety" of it — could be key to driving "the demand for other amenities within the downtown," as was the case across the river in Detroit.
"You get those initial groups of people down there and they create the framework and the mindset that downtown is a place to be," he said. "Downtown is a place that's cool."
WATCH | Is Windsor's downtown plan working?:
Moore agreed that Windsor should address homelessness and related issues, but lead with efforts to attract people to the city's core – not focus on removing others.
"The missing ingredient, even though it's touched on in the plan, is what are we going to do to physically enhance the downtown and make it something that we can be proud of. And we want to bring people to the downtown, which I think is important," he said.
Windsor's council said it hoped to have the report Agostino requested back before the next meeting on May 26.
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With files from Bob Becken and Dalson Chen