Christine Wilson-Furlonger, who runs a homeless shelter in Windsor, told BlackburnNews.com she was aghast when she read media reports of the mayor's public safety platform last week.
The executive director of Street Help Unit 7 was one of several officials who bounced around ideas to help the homeless this winter at a meeting last week. She was delighted when Drew Dilkens took interest and invited her to a meeting the morning he was set to release his platform, only to be disappointed later when so much of the focus was on just one option; a tent-city.
"How it was presented afterwards made it sound like this group of professionals sat around the table and came up with fluffy ideas that made no sense," Wilson-Furlonger fumed.
Dilkens came out against the idea, and opening up an abandoned warehouse to house the homeless.
"I’m not sure that setting up another location and bringing police in to monitor folks who don’t want to follow an existing set of rules is going to make a lot of sense, because we still have capacity in the existing shelters,” said Dilkens last Thursday.
His platform focused on a digital Neighbourhood Watch program, needle disposal sites, and hiring additional outreach workers.
In a blog post over the weekend, Wilson-Furlonger struck back that his comments stigmatized the homeless.
"They're not begging me for a tent city," she said. "They're begging me for a warm place to be this winter."
Wilson-Furlonger has long been disappointed with the lack of addiction services targetted to the homeless population.
"What we really need to sink our teeth into is the absence, the utter absence of addiction and mental health programs that I could send many of my people to if it was just available," she said. "We're going to see a lot more people dying because they can't get the treatment they're begging for."
Last winter, Street Help Unit 7 opened its doors to the homeless overnight during some of the coldest nights of the year. Initially, fire officials ordered everyone to leave the shelter but eventually rescinded the order on a temporary basis.
Wilson-Furlonger said if the city does not act, she is thinking about opening up her facility once again.
"Street Help is going to go back to our 24-hour a day format if we have to this winter," she said. "We won't be able to accommodate every single person out there, and that's what breaks my heart, but we will be able to try and save as many lives as we can."
She invites other candidates running for mayor in this fall's municipal election to give her a call.
