Once a 'hidden case' of Windsor's homeless, advocate wants more Indigenous-led supports
Report says Indigenous people overrepresented in Windsor's homeless population
Kim Noah feels anxious when her phone rings, aware that a missed call could leave one of her clients in a desperate situation.
"It could mean someone doesn't have a house. It could mean someone doesn't have an income. It could mean someone gets evicted," she said.
Noah is Windsor's only housing advocate for Indigenous people, a city-funded position with the Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre that helps people secure stable housing in the community.
She believes hiring additional Indigenous housing support workers would help rectify the continued over-representation of Indigenous people in the region's homeless population.
Recently released findings of an in-person count of Windsor's homeless population said that 22 per cent of people surveyed identified as Indigenous, a number Noah believes is an underestimate.
"There's a lot of hidden homelessness here in Windsor. I was one of those hidden cases," she said.
WATCH: Noah explain the growing momentum for the Indigenous-led support program
A housing advocate with lived experience
In 2015, Noah was working full time and living in her car. She would likely have gone uncounted.
"I was homeless three times in that year," said Noah, a single mother of four at the time.
She remembers preparing for job interviews in a grocery store parking lot while her kids stayed with family members in Moraviantown and Walpole Island.
Return trips meant hours of highway driving from Windsor.
"That was a really low point in our lives," said Noah
She tried to access an emergency shelter but the regulations didn't fit with her way of life.
"We have a different culture, I'd say.... I couldn't commit to being in at a certain time or staying over the weekend or not having my other kids come stay with me."
Noah found help at the Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre through Tina Jacobs, who is now the centre's executive director but was the Indigenous housing advocate at the time.
"It was easier for me to call on my own community and not feel judged, not feel like I should worry because I was homeless with four children," she said.
"When I came here, it was not a problem."
Jacobs was able to get Noah a rent subsidy which she no longer needs. She was hired to replace Jacobs as the housing advocate in 2016.
WATCH: Noah explain how her dream of an Indigenous shelter in Windsor would benefit the hidden homeless
Office experiencing 'backlog'
Today, Noah works out of a tight office at the Can-Am centre that she shares with her assistant Kelsey Timothy. She spends a considerable amount of time in her van driving across Windsor to help their clients submit housing and income support applications.
They also triage a call-back list filled with more names of people trying to find stable housing — in a city that has a growing wait list for affordable housing with 5,500 names on it already.
She feels like the centre is building momentum as she builds trust with people trying to find stable housing, but is worried about the increasing workload.
"To have somebody else to help relieve some of that pressure, the stress of getting things done... that would be amazing," said Noah.
She said there's a trust that's been built up within the community that is paying off, exemplified in stories she shares of people once hesitant to ask for help who are now housed.
"I did have somebody come in about once a year for three years. And then finally, on the third year, I signed up for everything," said Noah.
"That was really rewarding for me because I had to see them leave every year and worry if they were going to come back."
She believes those stories help increase referrals among Indigenous people in Windsor, who know they're connecting with someone that's found secure and stable housing through the centre.
"There is a lot of surprise when I share my story and just everything that my family's gone through to get to the point where we are now to get to," said Noah.
She urged people who are looking for supports to contact her through the Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre on Howard Avenue.
"When the time comes, I want them to know that we're here and we can, whatever it is, if we can't help you with that, we can find somebody to help you with that."