Windsor's plan for a shiny and new downtown has advocates hoping it remains a place 'for all of us'
CBC
On the southwest corner of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue in Windsor, Ont., Jayson Brooks points out a building's doorways, an area where he often sees people who are homeless sleeping.
Just a few months ago, he was one of them.
Often drunk or high on cocaine, he'd huddle into the building's crevices, away from the busy street or harsh weather, Brooks said.
"Sometimes I'd close my eyes and feel like I slept for a whole day and it's only been for a couple hours."
Once the drugs wore off, he was back to the "grind" of figuring out how to get his next fix.
His experiences as a drug user and someone struggling to make ends meet aren't unusual on Windsor's downtown streets. For years, the core of the border city has been grappling to deal with an increase in homelessness and people facing substance use and mental health challenges
They're among issues the city's revitalization plan, "Strengthen the Core," hopes to address.
"I mean, of course they want to clean up downtown ... but I mean what do we do with these people?" Brooks said. "They're human beings. There's overdoses every day. There's people that need help."
One part of the seven-point revitalization plan focuses on "healthy spaces," which includes asking upper levels of government to "support wrap-around relief programs for vulnerable community members."
Under the plan, the city is also looking to make the streets safer by hiring more police officers, discouraging loitering and panhandling, and relocating benches away from empty businesses so people don't stay in those areas.
But while the project aims for a shiny and new downtown, some question what this means for vulnerable individuals.
Around the same time the plan was announced, the city confirmed a new location for its Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H4). In the next few years, the support centre will move further out of the downtown area.
And, the Downtown Mission, the city's largest shelter, says it plans to follow suit.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
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