Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
City says Stopping Spread of COVID-19 is Everyone’s Responsibility
The City of Windsor and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) say they are doing all they can to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community, including supporting persons experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable residents.
Over the past year, COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred in a variety of locations where large numbers gather: long-term care homes, schools, farms, and even hospitals. Regardless of location, the response has been consistent: temporary access restrictions were implemented, as were special cleaning and testing protocols, until the outbreak could be contained.
An outbreak at the Downtown Mission resulted in the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit issuing an order restricting access.
To accommodate those affected, numerous agencies and organizations mobilized and expanded their system-wide response to stop the transmission of COVID-19 for those experiencing homelessness and keep residents safe.
This collaborative response includes healthcare experts, mental health and addiction agencies, social service agencies, the City, Welcome Centre for Women and Families, and the Salvation Army.
The City temporarily expanded its isolation and recovery spaces in a second motel property and the existing isolation and recovery property remains operational. The Salvation Army has stepped up and increased their shelter bed capacity by 25 for a total of 51 shelter beds.
The Welcome Centre continues to support the operations at the Isolation and Recovery Centre (IRC) and accommodate women and families. The temporary emergency shelter has capacity for 75 individuals.
The City of Windsor and partners reiterate they strive to ensure that the needs of persons who are homeless and the staff who are providing those services are met in an environment which is safe and exercises health-directed COVID-19 precautions.
A triage system has been established to allocate the appropriate space for individuals. The city says all locations are safe and clean and provide food for guests.
The options available to support those in need are offered with the appropriate processes, procedures, and safe guards to keep everyone safe.
The City and partner agencies say they have supported 66 people at the Temporary Emergency Shelter – Aquatic Centre (TESAC) this past weekend, the majority of whom are following the rules and appreciate the safe environment.
The city says they recognize that not everyone agrees with these practices, but they cannot jeopardize the health and wellbeing of guests and staff at any of the facilities offered.
In a letter to local media yesterday, Downtown Mission operators shared that they were re-opening a temporary shelter in leased space at 850 Ouellette Avenue.
The city says opening another facility for those that disagree with established COVID-19 protocols dilutes the available community resources to deal with this issue and is counterproductive to the paramount goal of stopping the spread of COVID-19 throughout the community.
To avoid simply replicating the issues that contributed to the original outbreak and to further ensure public safety is protected, orders from the City and health unit to discontinue its use have been issued.
Local healthcare partners continue to work with the Downtown Mission to clean and prepare the Victoria Avenue site for re-opening, subject to WECHU guidelines.
“Currently there is space for everyone. By working together we can stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community. This is an interim solution to reduce contact between those who are COVID positive or at high risk and those who are COVID free. Breaking the cycle of transmission and providing the Mission time to adjust their operations to comply with public health direction will allow those who wish to return to the Mission an opportunity to do so. While we are supporting the response to the Mission’s outbreak, we share the belief of leading industry experts that housing is a basic human right, and shelters should be temporary solutions that focus on housing people as a priority. This belief is reflected in the recently adopted Emergency Shelter Review and 10-year Housing and Homelessness Master Plan.”
Commissioner Jelena Payne
Family Services Windsor-Essex and lead agencies for housing have worked tirelessly with landlords to get over 20 people housed in the past two weeks, and that work is ongoing.
The city says they recognize that the Mission is a shelter provider in the system, but they cannot operate independently of the broader system and against the guidance of experts if the community expects to make progress towards a shared goal of eliminating homelessness and the spread of COVID-19.
