This Windsor homeless centre wants to open its dining area to clients. But it doesn’t have space

Despite renovations to its dining area, Windsor’s Street Help doesn’t have a free spot for clients to sit — that’s because it’s full of donations. 

In March 2022, Street Help added two 40-foot shipping containers behind its building as it said it needed extra storage space for donations.

At the time, the inside of the drop-in centre for people experiencing homelessness was packed with boxes full of canned foods, kitchen supplies, hygiene products, clothes and other donations.

It soon added four more bins, to store even more essentials.

But less than a year after the centre put in the six shipping containers, the registered charity was told to remove them as the bins violated a city bylaw. So in order to keep the items nearby, Street Help told CBC News that it decided to store the bin’s contents inside of its dining area.

“It was something that we really needed,” said manager and volunteer co-ordinator Anthony Nelson.

“They were holding everything in there and it was good that we had them ’cause it was definitely was a need.”

While Nelson admits that it was Street Help’s fault for not realizing the bins weren’t allowed, he says he’s “upset” that they don’t have the extra space and that clients can’t come indoors.

“Right now, all the stuff from the shipping containers had to be inside so we can’t have people coming inside the building to eat, it’s unfortunate, but we have to make sure the stuff when we need it, we can use it,” he said.

He says he wishes there could be an accommodation, but he understands that they need to be in compliance. 

Complaint led to removal of containers

The City of Windsor’s deputy chief building official Rob Vani told CBC News that they received a complaint in October last year, alerting them that there were shipping containers in a residential area.

According to the city’s zoning bylaw, shipping containers are not allowed in certain parts of the city.

He says they didn’t have to issue Street Help any orders to remove the bins as they complied and took them away by February this year.

“Normally for issues (like this) we give 30 days, we did give them more than the usual time that we give to remove these type of things from the property, understanding that they do provide a service to the public and they were challenged with trying to find locations for these storage containers elsewhere,” Vani said.

He added that large shipping containers, ones that exceed 10 square metres, are seen as buildings, so even if they were allowed in that area, they would have required a building permit.

Vani says that Street Help could have taken the issue to council and asked them to make an exception, but he’s unsure council would have agreed as that would set a precedent for similar cases. 

For anyone looking to add anything to their property, Vani says it’s best to always check with the city’s building or planning department that it’s OK. He says people can reach out via email or call the general number.

As for Street Help, Nelson says he’s unsure what the next steps are, but that the organization isn’t planning on moving from its Wyandotte Street East location to get more space.

Right now, the shipping containers have been placed somewhere else and still contain some of Street Help’s supplies. Nelson says they still have easy access to them, they just need to drive a bit to reach them.

The more immediate, daily essentials meanwhile will continue to be stored inside of the dining area until the organization find sa more permanent solution.

Until anything changes, Street Help’s dining area will remain closed to the public, which has been the case since the pandemic started in March 2020.

 

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