Crunch of COVID-19 being felt by homeless support groups in Windsor

Every day, Kim Spirou and a handful of other volunteers drive around the city to deliver groceries, hygiene kits and other lifestyle items to Windsor's low income community or those experiencing homelessness.

But due to COVID-19, organizations like the one Spirou is a part of, are feeling stretched. Homelessness support agencies are reporting fewer volunteers amid increased calls for help, which has left organizations working around the clock to support the city's most vulnerable. 

"We're 100 per cent volunteer driven. We have no staff," said Spirou, who volunteers with Second Chance Ministry. "We don't have a business address. We work out of our homes."

"Even before the pandemic we were very, very busy. We've been at this for 11 years but the needs are definitely higher." 

Spirou told CBC News that while calls for help have increased, donations have reduced because of COVID-19. 

On average, she said, they receive around 30 to 40 calls for help a day. A high number of their callers, she said, are single moms or grandmothers caring for children by themselves. 

Along with essential everyday items, Spirou says their organization is the only one that provides furniture items — and most people these days are in need of a bed to sleep.

This week alone, Spirou said the organization has about 180 people listed for help. 

"Those are the people we're trying to get to in the next few days," she said.

"They're very very anxious, sometimes because we're getting such a large volume they might have to wait a little bit longer, but we triage just like an emergency room would do. So if there's somebody that's in extreme difficulty, [for example] we had mothers calling us in tears, 'I have absolutely no food for my kids,can you please help me today?' sometimes those calls get answered pretty much immediately." 

But she said they typically try to service people within one or two days of them reaching out. 

'Running on fumes'

The same increase in demand is also being seen by Lisa Boikoff from Street Help in downtown Windsor. 

While Street Help used to offer shower facilities and an indoor space for people to eat their meals, the pandemic has meant those services are no longer an option. 

"It's definitely a hit to the heart because we want to be able to open our doors and they need that, that needs to be there," she said. "We definitely need more places where people can get sheltered during the day and night from the elements. It's one of those things that desperately has to be addressed." 

Boikoff added that they continue to provide people with three meals a day and coffee. Their food bank is also still running. 

But the takeout meals have put an added financial strain on the organization with $3,000 being required for the food containers, she said. 

Doing all the heavy lifting are about nine volunteers, including Boikoff. She said the team used to be bigger but the pandemic has meant that some volunteers need to stay home. 

"We're running on fumes," she said. "Our volunteer base used to be seniors who would come in and do housekeeping items, do laundry, sort clothes, but because they are at high risk they can't come in anymore. We are running on a skeleton crew. Lot of us are working 7 days a week. We're running on empty." 

Outbreaks in homeless population add to stress

The strain on resources and fewer hands to help are happening at the same time Windsor's homelessness population is experiencing a significant COVID-19 outbreak. 

The Downtown Mission went into outbreak on Feb. 11 and, days later, so did the Salvation Army in Windsor. As of Wednesday, there's a total of 65 cases in guests and staff across both facilities. 

Executive director of WE Family Services Joyce Zuk says the fact that the homeless population went nearly a year without an outbreak was due to the effort displayed by community organizations. But this, she said, has come with a lot of stress. 

Her organization has five outreach workers who go to shelters and help those experiencing homelessness, including an extra staff member brought on due to the pandemic. 

"What COVID has taught us is that the best place to fight the virus is to remain at home, to shelter in place, for those that don't have a permanent place to live that's an absolute impossibility so when we look at the issue of homelessness, it is a healthcare crisis. It's a little late to be trying to catch up now, because people needed homes months ago." 

She added that a shelter system shouldn't be the way to go, but a lack of housing in Windsor — with some waiting up to 90 days to get shelter — means people need to depend on these services. 

"But anytime there's a stressor on this shelter system, such as the COVID outbreak that we're having at the Mission, it just makes everyone's job tougher. So it speaks to the fact that we all have to keep stepping it up ...  What it doesn't mean is that we stop working with people and that we shut services down. People need us more than ever."