As the temperatures begin to plummet, the executive director of Street Help is disappointed Windsor's new city council has not done more to help the homeless.
Christine Wilson-Furlonger told BlackburnNews.com during October's election campaign, candidates were at the shelter all the time, and homelessness was at the top of the agenda. Since then, she said nothing has been done to get people out of the cold.
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"You can put up millions upon millions upon millions of dollars of glistening, pretty lights, but all you're doing is trying to obscure the fact that there's a very unhealthy vein in Windsor that needs to be addressed," she said.
Mayor Drew Dilkens drew criticism during the campaign for rejecting the idea of a tent city, but Wilson-Furlonger says that was just a temporary solution, and one of many ideas.
Another was to open up one of the city's vacant warehouses or schools to shelter the homeless during the winter. That too was rejected.
The sign of the Street Help Homeless Centre in Windsor is seen on March 7, 2016
Now she is championing a new idea.
"City council could pull up their pants a little here and say, 'look at these homes that are abandoned,'" Wilson-Furlonger said. "It might cost 30-, or 40-, or $50,000 to improve this home and make it livable, but why don't we?"
She said a family could move into one of those homes opening up a small apartment for someone living on the street.
While some may baulk at spending $50,000 a home, Wilson-Furlonger asked taxpayers to remember homelessness already costs them.
"What's it going to cost the taxpayers if people are freezing to death?" she pointed out.
Meanwhile, she said Street Help would open again during the coldest nights this winter to give shelter to those who have no home.
- With files from Allanah Wills.
