Notice of Motion

Moved by: Councillor Kieran McKenzie
Seconded by: _____________________

WHEREAS the City of Windsor is committed to ensuring the health, safety, and stable housing of all its residents, particularly vulnerable women, youth, seniors, and families facing immediate housing and shelter crises; and,

WHEREAS the City of Windsor has a history of partnering with the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women & Families, explicitly recognizing that the specialized services they provide are critical to the municipality’s overall emergency social services framework; and, 

WHEREAS the City of Windsor originally reinforced this critical partnership through a significant capital investment to purchase and renovate a former hotel property on Tuscarora Street, a strategic joint initiative that successfully allowed the Welcome Centre to expand its baseline capacity to 32 gender-specific beds and 21 family rooms; and, 

WHEREAS the City of Windsor originally requested that the Welcome Centre expand its capacities and absorb additional emergency spaces to support municipal winter and overflow planning, which successfully reduced the number of accommodated women in our community; and, 

WHEREAS the Welcome Centre’s correspondence dated May 8th outlines that maintaining these expanded capacities has created an unsustainable systemic deficit due to senior-government funding freezes, requiring immediate, broader operational resources to safely maintain the necessary staffing, programming, and facility infrastructure; and,

WHEREAS Windsor City Council voted unanimously on July 10, 2023, to officially declare Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) an epidemic in our community, establishing a clear municipal imperative to prioritize, support, and resource safety nets for women and families in crisis; and,

WHEREAS emergency shelter capacity cannot be measured solely by the total number of physical beds in the broader municipal system, as women seeking shelter present distinct service needs rooted in complex trauma and deep vulnerability, requiring specialized, gender-specific spaces that prioritize unique psychological safety and frequently accommodate accompanying minor children—factors that can lead highly vulnerable women to avoid general mixed-gender or co-ed spaces entirely, choosing instead to survive in vehicles or on the street; and,

WHEREAS the immense community demand for these specialized environments is starkly illustrated by data from the Welcome Centre, noting that the shelter was forced to turn away 328 women in the final four months of 2025 alone due to a critical lack of adequate, safe spaces—a crisis that was temporarily mitigated by a 57% drop in turnaways when the 8 emergency beds were put into use; and,

WHEREAS in addition to generalized data showing available shelter capacity in our community, the number of women experiencing homelessness and seeking shelter is growing, while gender-specific spaces remain underfunded relative to need and face a critical lack of capacity in our community and across Canada; and, 

WHEREAS the permanent expansion of women-specific, trauma-informed housing supports directly aligns with national rights-based shelter standards, the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and the City of Windsor's own housing strategies and master plans; and, 

WHEREAS the Welcome Centre requires an urgent municipal funding bridge of $192,523 to permanently stabilize these requested spaces, safely expanding total gendered emergency capacity from 32 to 44 flexible beds; and, 

WHEREAS City Administration has formally confirmed that the municipal Budget Stabilization Reserve (BSR) is sufficiently capitalized, with in excess of $6,000,000 in uncommitted funds available for immediate allocation; and, 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

1. City Council approve a one-time emergency funding allocation of UP TO $192,523 to the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women & Families to expand and safely staff its gendered emergency shelter capacity from 32 beds to 44 beds, effective immediately. The exact total will be adjusted proportionally based on the timing of the award and the official end date of March 31, 2027, to align with the organization’s ongoing funding agreements. 

2. The source of funding for this emergency expansion be drawn entirely from the uncommitted balance of the Budget Stabilization Reserve (BSR), utilizing available municipal reserves to bridge senior-government funding shortfalls and help fulfill Council's explicit commitment to better address the IPV epidemic as well as gender-based emergency shelter need in our community.
   
   
3. The Commissioner of Human and Health Services be directed to execute the necessary localized service contract amendments with the Welcome Centre to immediately flow these funds and preserve these vital community safety assets.
   
   
4. City Administration be Directed to develop and bring forward a formal proposal for Council's consideration during the 2027 Operating Budget process or prior if appropriate, to transition this emergency funding into a permanent, annualized funding stream, ensuring the long-term operational sustainability of these critical gender-specific shelter capacities.

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