Downtown Mission’s move remains dependent on permanent H4 site

The Downtown Mission at 875 Ouellette Ave. in Windsor. (File)

Any potential move for Windsor’s Downtown Mission remains dependent on the city establishing a long-term location for the Housing and Homelessness Help Hub (H4), according to the shelter’s executive director.

Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin said the search for a new home has been at a standstill since the City of Windsor shelved plans to pursue land on Wellington Avenue for an H4 in 2024 due to high acquisition costs.

“Since then, we haven’t really, you know, been looking into too many other locations or not too far into it just because we didn’t want to make the move and then move again,” Ponniah-Goulin told CTV News.

Ahead of an upcoming Windsor City Council meeting, Chris McLeod, the chair of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (BIA), told media he would be advocating for the mission to move elsewhere in an effort to help businesses.

“They can’t be the first thing everybody sees when they come into downtown and the last thing everybody sees when they leave,” he said.

For Ponniah-Goulin, the comments didn’t come as a shock given ongoing dialogue with the city, businesses and community stakeholders.

“So it’s something we definitely want to do, and it’s something that we continue to work with the city, the WDBIA, and other partners to see where that location might be most suitable for our community as a whole,” Ponniah-Goulin said.

The mission’s shelter services have called a property along Ouellette Avenue home since 2017, but it was never intended to be permanent.

Ponniah-Goulin said the hope has always been to move to a location near the permanent H4, once a site is established.

Currently, the H4 is located at the former Water World site on Wyandotte Street East. Despite millions spent on upgrades to provide better services to those in need, city officials have previously stated the site wouldn’t be permanent.

However, Drew Dilkens, Windsor’s mayor, recently announced the city is exploring whether the former Windsor Arena, located next to the H4, could be repurposed to help in providing additional services.

“I’d say we’re not pitching the towel in on an H4 site somewhere else, but with all the work that’s been done over the past couple years, tell me where,” Dilkens said.

Ponniah-Goulin said she hasn’t heard any details about the current H4 site being made permanent.

If it is the plan, she said the mission would still look for a location closer to the H4.

“I would assume the goal would be to get us closer to that location, possibly move into that location to help with the services that they’re looking to do at the old Windsor Arena,” she said.

Once a location is chosen, Ponniah-Goulin said profits from selling their current building and fundraising efforts would be used to cover the costs of purchasing and potentially renovating a new space.

The executive director added they are seeing success in programming for addictions services and are looking forward to one day expanding that work in a new home.

“So if we’re doing that currently at our location with very little space, if we’re able to be part of, you know, a bigger solution, bigger opportunity, where we could potentially help even more individuals, that would be amazing,” she added.