• 4. What are the current and future shelter needs (beds, demographics, location(s), staffing, programs, etc.) and capacity in the City of Windsor and in the County of Essex and what should be the future shelter composition?

• 5. What are the current costs and funding of shelter services and what are future options for funding?

• 6. What services are provided by shelters and what are the alternatives to current service access methods?

• 7. What service delivery models should be used and what should be the roles and responsibilities of City of Windsor staff and service providers?

• 8. How is the emergency shelter system impacted by other services/systems/institutions and how could other services/systems/institutions interact and enhance efficient service delivery?

• 9. How should shelter services be adjusted amidst the pandemic?

1.2   Data Collection Methods

The initial review involved a range of data collection methods to gather information, including:

• Data and background document review

• Interviews with City staff (5 participants)

• Interviews with shelter service providers (6 interviews with 13 participants)

• Interviews with community Partners that directly impact or interact with the emergency shelter system (13 interviews)

• Focus groups and interviews with shelter users (4 focus groups with 31 participants, 9 interviews)

• Brief “intercept” interviews with non-shelter users (10 participants)

• Survey and interviews with comparator municipalities (7 interviews)

• Questionnaire sent to elected officials in Windsor and Essex

• Review of published information on best practices

• Workshop with City staff, shelter service providers and community partners (36 participants).

To support the analysis of adjustments that were required to the draft findings and recommendations, given the reality of the pandemic, additional data was collected through:

• A data and background document review

• Interviews with City staff

• Interviews with shelter service providers

• Interview with Family Services Windsor-Essex outreach manager and outreach worker

• Interviews with 13 shelter and non-shelter users

• Review of published information on best practices in shelter services in response to COVID-19.