Tim Richter, CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, advocates for shelters as the front door to a more permanent solution of housing and social supports. Administration agrees with Mr. Richter that shelters should be part of a system designed for intake, triage and short stay, where people can move on to a space that is more appropriate and permanent. Unfortunately, there will always be some level of emergency shelter need in communities due to unplanned emergencies, but ensuring the system is “right sized” and meets the long term needs is the key to ensuring a successful model.

The purpose of the emergency shelter review was to make recommendations towards an efficient, effective and supportive shelter system that is coordinated, flexible, responsive, and focused on core services to address client needs and included the following:

• Best practices and funding arrangements in comparable communities

• Stakeholder perspectives

• Service strengths and gaps

• Current and future shelter needs

• Current costs and funding of shelter services

• Services provided by shelters and alternatives to current service access methods

• Service delivery models and roles and responsibilities of City and service providers

• How the emergency shelter system is impacted by other services/systems/institutions

• The alignment of emergency shelter services with municipal, provincial and federal legislation, policies, plans and service agreements.

The Shelter Review outlines a number of evidence-informed practices for shelter services including:

• Immediate and Low-Barrier Access where every reasonable barrier to shelter access (and by extension housing access) has been removed.

• Diversion Supports

• Practices that Promote Dignity and Respect

• Housing-Focused, Rapid Exit Services

• Data to Measure Performance

• Prevention

• Outreach

• Coordinated Access

• Drop-in/ Help Centres

• New best practices related to shelter service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, coordinated access is the process to triage and connect people in crisis to housing and required support services. Windsor Essex has had a coordinated access mechanism for homelessness since May of 2018. Coordinated Access mechanisms accelerate the process by which people experiencing homelessness get and remain permanently housed.