‘It can’t be the first thing everyone sees when they come downtown,’ DWBIA chair calling for Downtown Mission to relocate

The chair of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association is advocating to have Windsor’s Downtown Mission move to another location.

Chris MacLeod plans to raise the issue during Monday’s city council meeting, as the council will be receiving an update on progress made by the Strengthen the Core-Downtown Windsor Revitalization Plan.

In May 2024, the city council approved a $3.2 million initiative focused on improving safety, cleanliness, and business growth in the core, with seven action items, including a focus on addressing the impact of mental health, addiction, and homelessness on the downtown.

The Downtown Mission is located at 875 Ouellette Ave., not far from Elliott Street West, and people who rely on the service can often be seen lingering around the property and along sidewalks near the site.

MacLeod says one of the biggest issues they have to deal with is the location of the mission.

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

MacLeod says the mission is a necessary service and they need to be doing what they do.

“I go back to what Mayor Dilkens said when the Strengthen the Core program was launched, that we can’t continue to allow a section of the community to negatively impact other parts of the community,” he says.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says some of the behaviours by the people who use the mission work against what we’re trying to do, but they are members of the community, and we have to find ways to deal with the issues they’re going through.

“These are complex issues that every city across our country and across the continent is dealing with today,” he says. “We’re finding ways to deal with those; having that structure and operation on our main street is less than desirable. We certainly have a shared interest in working with the mission, the DWBIA, and all the partners to see that facility and those services relocated elsewhere.”

Dilkens says they want to help the people in the community experiencing homelessness, mental health, and addiction issues.

“Someone also has to be the advocate to say there are businesses in our downtown core that have invested significant capital, are hiring people, and are paying property taxes to the city, and someone has to be their advocate at the same time as well to give them a fighting chance because we want a thriving and robust downtown core,” he says.

MacLeod will also be advocating for a look at how social services for the mental health, addiction, and homelessness communities operate within the downtown core and if there are ways to co-locate them.

Windsor City Council meets Monday, April 13, at 10 a.m. at Windsor City Hall.