Windsor council rejects federal funding for refugee housing, citing concerns about feds downloading costs

A Windsor-based charity which has sheltered refugee claimants and asylum seekers for more than 20 years is asking city council help them expand.

Windsor city council has rejected a federal funding opportunity that would have expanded refugee housing, citing concerns over cost downloading and which levels of government should be financially responsible.

During the Jan. 27 meeting of Windsor city council, Matthew House executive director Mike Morency called on the city to submit a conditional application — in partnership with the non-profit — to secure $3.7 million in federal funds over two years under the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP).

The IHAP is a federal program designed to address housing challenges for asylum seekers across Canada.

Unlike the current federal hotel program, which is used to house large numbers of asylum seekers in centralized locations, IHAP aims to shift toward smaller-scale models such as Matthew House’s.

The city would have needed to contribute around $232,000 to unlock the federal IHAP dollars — a cost Morency argued was negligible compared to the benefits.

“I understand, as a taxpayer of the city of Windsor, the desire to avoid federal downloading,” said Morency.

“However, I consider the vote very short-sighted because this is a very limited opportunity, and you can’t argue with the return on investment: $232,000 over two years to bring $3.7 million to our community.”

Matthew House has operated since 2003 without government financial support, providing shelter and settlement services to more than 2,379 asylum seekers and assisting 11,000 more with settlement.

According to Morency, most asylum claimants who have walked through the doors of Matthew House have secured employment within 9.2 days of receiving work permits.

Councillor Kieran McKenzie highlighted the limits of the city’s financial capacity, saying the municipality was already burdened with responsibilities that belong to other levels of government.

“Housing is squarely a provincial responsibility,” McKenzie said.

“We participate in a big way. And frankly, I think we pick up a lot of the work that should be undertaken by other levels of government, in many, many different areas of program and service delivery.”

Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac pointed to broader issues with how federal and provincial funding is allocated, describing the situation as unsustainable for municipalities.

“I don’t know how much more we have to be hit by the federal government to realize that their responsibility in terms of immigration policy, in terms of their policies for refugees and asylum seekers, means that they’re responsible to make sure that when they accept these people, all of the people, that there are programs in place that they fund through their federal tax dollars,” Gignac said.

Mayor Drew Dilkens echoed concerns about downloading responsibilities onto municipalities and criticized how the federal government had managed similar programs in the past.

“At the end of the day, I feel very uncomfortable having the municipality step into the shoes of the federal government and start funding even a portion of this,” Dilkens said.

“It’s not the right order of government. If you don’t believe me, just open the Constitution and you know, see how the division of powers are assigned, and this doesn’t fall within our sphere of responsibility.”

Coun. McKenzie put forward a motion to instead request that the province fund the $232,000 instead of the city.

That vote led to a 5-5 tie, as Coun. Fred Francis was exempted after he declared a conflict of interest in the matter. A council vote that ends in a tie is denied.

Morency criticized council’s refusal to even seek provincial support for the IHAP funding.

“That stings even more because they’ve gone to the province on many other issues that aren’t their responsibility,” he said.

He also argued that bad experiences with past federal programs should not have influenced this decision.

“We cannot let negative experiences with Program A stop us from bringing $3.7 million into our community through Program B,” said Morency, adding the funding proposal represents a cost-effective way to provide meaningful support to asylum seekers.

“At the end of the day, $232,000 to provide 500 people a year with quality support — helping them become self-sufficient, employed within 90 days, and even purchasing their own homes within three to four years before they’ve had their refugee hearings — is an incredible deal,” he said.

During Monday’s meeting of Windsor city council, Gignac argued the city was already stretched too thin to take on additional responsibilities.

“After you’ve been bruised five times, when another proposal comes to you, we’re sure not going to enter into something that we know is not going to turn out well for the municipality,” Gignac said.

Each year, Matthew House spends $183,943 on lease payments and property taxes, which has prevented them from purchasing the buildings outright — with nearly $215,600 being paid to the city in property taxes since 2019.

Had the funding been approved, the funding would have allowed Matthew House to purchase its current facilities, freeing up nearly $184,000 annually in rental costs and enabling them to shelter an additional 191 people each year, Morency said.

Matthew House does not own its two facilities because the organization operates on a community-funded model and has relied on leasing the properties due to limited financial resources.

The organization’s Forest Glade location, acquired and restored in 2019, can shelter up to 80 individuals at one time, while the West Windsor site, secured in 2023, can accommodate an additional 50.

Following the council vote, Morency said he would continue advocating directly with the province and local MPPs to secure financial support.

“We haven’t had tremendous success with our local MPP so far, but we’ll keep trying,” said Morency.

“Matthew House can not continue producing results on our own while also paying lease payments to landlords and significant property taxes to the city.”