The Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families will receive an additional $60,000 of funding from the City of Windsor to open additional shelter beds.
The shelter will hire two additional staff for the remainder of the 2026 fiscal year to open 12 additional beds.
"It gets me another housing worker, which gets my case ratios down to having housing workers who can hit the ground running, go out into the community with women attending viewings with them and a case manager who can help us with some of the really increasingly complex medical cases," said Lady Laforet, executive director.
The shelter first made the funding request in May. A motion to support the request of $192,000 was deferred in June. The $60,000 approved will allow the shelter to operate the additional beds until the next round of budget discussions in 2027.
"I think this lets us know that I need to be doing a deeper dive in terms of the advocacy to support the municipality in adding that pressure back onto the province. We recognize the step that the city was taking today in discussing the municipality's role in homelessness response," said Laforet. "It was really exciting to see them say that regardless of the province's appetite for the funding we have to determine today what sort of community we want to build. Today let us know that we have a current council that wants to build a community that inclusive for women and some of our most vulnerable."
The money will come from a reserve fund for housing and homelessness.
"What was decided here today is not sustainable an it's going to be very difficult for city council to think, in future years, stepping into the shoes of the provincial or federal government in terms of funding," said Dilkens.
The motion to approve the funding passed with a 10-1 vote. Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac voted against the motion.
This is the second time the issue has come to council. A request for $192,000 of additional funding was deferred in June. The full funding would have covered the shelter for the entire year; the $60,000 will cover the costs for the remainder of the 2026 fiscal year.
