A reported increase in homelessness across Ontario is consistent with what’s being seen at the Downtown Mission of Windsor. While it’s not uncommon to see an uptick on cold nights, Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, the mission’s executive director, said there’s been a consistent flow of people regardless of the hour. “It’s even during the day when we didn’t necessarily have, like, anyone in the building, let’s say on a nice day, there’s still individuals here during the day getting a place to be safe and shelter inside,” she told CTV News. A new report from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) indicated that, throughout 2025, 85,000 people were experiencing homelessness. Without a roof over their heads, it’s believed the province had nearly 2,000 encampments. In conversations with other Windsor-Essex service providers, Ponniah-Goulin said there’s been a noted increase of people living rough in the region. Over the past week, the mission has opened its doors to 120 to 140 people each night. “We’ve had more and more individuals who are older, who maybe have no mental health issues, no addiction, history, but they just can’t afford life anymore,” Ponniah-Goulin said. The AMO report estimates $11 billion is needed over the next decade, focused on prevention and more affordable housing units, to end chronic homelessness. Speaking on AM800 News CKLW, Robin Jones, the president of AMO, said taxpayers will end up footing the bill one way or another. “When you think of how many homeless people end up in jail, and the cost of supporting somebody in a provincial jail, or how many people end up in a hospital ... when we start looking at the money that we’re spending, we know that to end chronic homelessness over 10 years we are looking at $11-billion,” Jones said. In Windsor, Ponniah-Goulin said there’s a need to boost the affordable housing supply and bolster access to addiction and recovery supports. Without a place to stay outside of a shelter, it can be difficult for those battling addiction to turn a new leaf. “I think those are the investments that help to move people on with their lives and forward and upward and getting them out of places like an emergency homeless shelter,” she said. At the time of the last Point-in-Time Count for Windsor-Essex, 2024, 672 people were recorded as experiencing homelessness. Through new programs like the HART Hub at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, providing low-barrier supports to those experiencing homelessness, Ponniah-Goulin noted there’s reason to be hopeful, so long as the efforts and funding persist. — With files from AM800 News’ Meagan Delaurier.
