Windsor city council has approved $60,000 in one-time emergency funding for the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families, opting not to wait until the 2027 budget process to address capacity pressures at the facility. The funding is intended to support additional emergency shelter capacity until council considers a permanent funding arrangement during next year’s budget deliberations. Council approved the motion Monday by a vote of 10-1, with Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac casting the only opposing vote. The decision follows a request from the Welcome Centre for approximately $192,000 in annual municipal funding. According to a city report, about $150,000 would address an ongoing operating deficit, while $42,000 would cover staffing costs associated with adding 12 beds for single women. Welcome Centre executive director Lady Laforet told council the reduced $60,000 allocation would serve as a bridge, allowing the shelter to begin rehiring staff and maintaining additional capacity until the 2027 budget is finalized. The motion, introduced by Coun. Kieran McKenzie directs city staff to identify a funding source. It allows the money to be drawn from the Homelessness and Housing Reserve. Any discussion about permanently funding the beds will return during the 2027 budget process and be informed by a system-wide shelter review expected before council later this year. City administration had recommended referring the entire request to the budget process. Its report found the regional shelter system operated at an average of 89 per cent occupancy between June 2025 and May 2026, leaving an average of approximately 24 of its 216 beds available each night. However, those vacancies were not evenly distributed. The Welcome Centre’s 32 beds for single women operated at 99 per cent occupancy, while the 25 women’s beds at the Downtown Mission averaged 78 per cent occupancy. Administration argued the approximately five women’s beds available at the mission each night demonstrated that capacity existed within the broader system. The report recorded 219 unique women turned away from the Welcome Centre during the one-year period. It said the number was consistent with a three-year average of approximately 230 women annually and did not demonstrate a new or urgent surge. Laforet argued those figures do not fully capture how frequently women call the shelter while waiting for a bed. She told council the centre recorded 454 turn away calls involving 150 individual women between June 15 and July 21. Many women call repeatedly as they wait for a space to become available. The centre’s own follow-up found about half of callers planned to continue couch-surfing, remain without indoor shelter or did not know where they would stay. Laforet said only about 19 per cent indicated they would try a co-ed shelter. “If we have a system that has capacity, but people are not choosing to access it, then accessibility becomes that safety piece,” Laforet said. She argued that women may avoid mixed-gender facilities because they do not feel safe or because those shelters cannot offer the same specialized, gender-responsive environment. The Downtown Mission separates sleeping areas by gender, but women and men remain on the same floor and use some common spaces. Administration acknowledged the Welcome Centre offers greater privacy and specialized services but cautioned that several shelters and housing providers are facing similar financial pressures. The city receives approximately $16.7 million annually through Ontario’s Homelessness Prevention Program and $4.26 million from the federal Reaching Home program. With municipal contributions included, Windsor and Essex County’s homelessness and supportive housing budget totals approximately $25 million. That budget is already fully allocated, with $9.6 million directed toward emergency shelters and overnight drop-in programs. Administration warned that increasing funding for one provider would ordinarily require taking money from another program or finding a new municipal source. Officials also expressed concern that approving the request outside the budget process could lead to similar requests from other organizations. McKenzie said the immediate capacity problem at the Welcome Centre could be addressed separately from the larger debate over how the shelter system is funded. “We know they’re being turned away. We know why they’re being turned away,” McKenzie said. “We have the chance today, right now, to do something.” The report also warned that creating 12 additional spaces for single women could reduce the number of rooms available for families and potentially lead to more expensive motel stays. Laforet disputed that additional women’s beds would result in families being denied shelter. She said no family has required motel overflow since April 2025 and the organization could reconfigure rooms and office space if family demand increased. Gignac said she could not support the motion because the city cannot continue absorbing costs that should be funded by senior levels of government. “What we’re doing today is not sustainable,” Gignac said. “The motion is not sustainable, and I’m not going to be able to support it.” Other councillors acknowledged those long-term concerns but supported the temporary allocation. Coun. Jim Morrison said he changed his position during the debate, ultimately deciding to support the funding despite concerns about precedent and future tax pressures. “At the end of the day, I’ll go with my heart on this one over my brain — which doesn’t happen very often.”
