Windsor to spend as much as $7.5M on Water World emergency overnight shelter
Windsor city council approved plans to renovate the temporary H4 space during a closed-door meeting last month. The decision comes amid a drastic rise in the number of people who are homeless in Windsor — putting emergency shelters in a continued capacity crunch.
The former Windsor Water World building, located at Wyandotte Street and Glengarry Avenue, was converted into an emergency day use facility in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The temporary facility is expected to be replaced by a permanent location somewhere in the city.
But that effort has stalled after council decided last year to not move forward with the purchase of a west-end site it selected in 2024.
Site will remain open during renovations
The H4 site offers basic medical care, food, washrooms and clothing to people who do not have a home.
A feasibility study completed for the City of Windsor obtained by CBC News details the potential for 75 semi-private spaces inside of the former Water World building.
Those shelter spaces will placed on top of the filled in pool area, according to a suggested layout included in the document.
There will also be renovated bathrooms, individual lockers and outdoor fencing added to the property.
The company that does the renovations will need to do the work while keeping the H4 site active.
A report to council earlier this year shows there are 672 people homeless in Windsor, with 165 shelter spaces available on a typical night.
WATCH | Recent count of Windsor's homelessness issue:
The number of beds increases when shelters create overflow space during emergency situations like extreme cold in the winter.
People used H4 as an overnight shelter for the first time this winter when the centre created 35 temporary overnight warming spaces in January, paid for by the provincial government.
New site can go anywhere in Windsor
The city wants the renovation project completed by the spring of 2026 and expects it will operate for an additional five years while it searches for a permanent location.
That search has shifted from the original criteria council used when it selected the previous site near Wellington Avenue and Wyandotte.
A 2022 consultant's report the city paid for said the new site should be within 2 kilometres of resources in the core and have access to public transit.
Now it will open the site selection process across the city.
The decision to renovate H4 was made by council during a meeting that the public and reports could not attend.
Provincial legislation requires meetings to be held in public except for limited exemptions.
This discussion was held in private based on two exemptions, according to the city clerk:
A proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board; and
A position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiation carried on by or on behalf of the municipality.
CBC News asked to speak with Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens about the renovations, the costs, and making the decision in an in-camera session.
His chief of staff declined the request.
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