Problem → Reaction → Solution: Is Windsor Following the Playbook?

xward4

2 days ago

5 min read

What the Mission’s Move to the H4 Means for Wyandotte, Glengarry and Ward 4

There’s an old pattern in politics: let a problem grow, wait for the public to react, then present the solution that was ready all along.

I can’t prove anyone at City Hall is following that pattern, and I won’t pretend to read minds. But I can read a calendar and a budget, and together they tell Ward 4 residents something they deserve to hear.

The Problem

On October 13, in the middle of his re-election campaign, Mayor Drew Dilkens promised to relocate the Downtown Mission from Ouellette Avenue and Pozitive Pathways from Pelissier Street to the H4, Windsor’s Homelessness and Housing Help Hub, in the former Water World building at Wyandotte Street East and Glengarry Avenue. The Mission aims to move by 2027. The mayor acknowledged the expansion will cost money and that the city is still working out the details.

The H4 was never meant to last. It opened in 2020 as a temporary COVID-era measure, and the planned permanent site at 700 Wellington Avenue was abandoned in December 2024 over financial concerns. Since then, council has approved up to $7.5 million in renovations to keep the “temporary” facility running for five more years, a decision made in closed session. The H4 now operates around the clock, with a shelter, food bank and meal program planned for the area.

The Mission’s executive director has been open about one reason for the move: so Ouellette neighbours stop encountering clients every day. That’s an understandable goal, but it doesn’t solve the problem. It moves it to another street, and the people living and working around Wyandotte and Glengarry inherit it.

If you haven’t visited the H4 site, I encourage you to go and see what this community is dealing with before more people and services are added.

What do we actually know?

The most recent detailed public report I could find is from 2021, when CBC reported that families near Fred Thomas Park were finding syringes by the playground and that neighbours had noticed more theft and violence after the hub opened. The city said it had improved security, but that was five years ago. I haven’t found any recent public data on police calls, needle pickups or complaints around the H4.

What I can offer is what I’ve seen myself. I regularly travel through the northwest corner of Ward 4, Glengarry and the H4 site. I see overdoses almost daily, in public spaces, at the H4 and in surrounding neighbourhoods, often in front of children and families. People openly smoke fentanyl and meth with no attempt at concealment.

I’m also concerned about where this is heading. The impact appears to be moving east into Ward 4, toward the Wyandotte business corridor and the residential streets nearby. Moving the Mission to the H4 would likely intensify it.

Before any new services go into this area, residents deserve current data.

The Reaction

Concentrate high-need services in one corner of the city and neighbours will push back. So will businesses. That reaction is predictable and legitimate. People who pay taxes, run shops and raise kids near Wyandotte and Glengarry have every right to be heard.

The real question is where that pressure gets steered.

The Solution Already Drawn Up

On May 27, the city unveiled The Village at The Barn, a plan to convert the former Windsor Arena into 102 private, lockable dwellings with supports. The city itself describes it as part of a campus-style facility alongside the H4. Staff’s preliminary estimate is $55 to $60 million, not including annual operating costs, and staff say the building’s condition isn’t fully understood, so the number could change. On June 29, council voted to study the idea, approving $2.5 million to investigate the site and approach upper levels of government. It did not approve the full cost.

Now look at the sequence. The H4 grows. Pressure builds around Wyandotte and Glengarry. A $60 million campus is waiting as the answer. I’m not claiming that’s choreographed. I’m asking residents to consider whether the arena plan is being presented as the only way out of a pressure the city’s own decisions are creating.

The plan has serious critics. Mayoral candidate and Ward 1 Councillor Fred Francis warned it could saddle the next council with “tens of millions if not hundreds of millions” of dollars. The province has said it won’t support the proposed safer-use space. Even the mayor has acknowledged it would probably be cheaper to demolish the old building and build new. That isn’t a settled plan. It’s a plan that should be tested in public before anyone is told there’s no alternative.

What I Would Do Instead

I’m not against helping people. I’m against a system that manages a crisis forever and calls it compassion. My alternative is the Community Recovery Village:

400 beds on a secure, fully enclosed campus, built from repurposed shipping containers stacked two high, 16 residents per structure.
Real treatment on site: medical and psychiatric triage, intensive addiction treatment and detox support, education and vocational classrooms, fitness and recreation.
The right location: appropriately zoned industrial or commercial land, away from residential streets, instead of pushing more services toward homes and small businesses.
A legal framework that fits the problem: I would press the province and Ottawa for expanded civil commitment powers, so people whose severe addiction or untreated psychiatric illness leaves them unable to care for themselves can get structured treatment instead of the revolving door of the emergency room and short-term jail.

The numbers

My campaign’s projections are about $45,000 per bed to build and $12,500 per bed per year to operate. At 400 beds, that’s roughly $18 million in capital and $5 million a year. That is 4x the capacity at less than half the cost.

The city’s preliminary estimate for the arena conversion is $55 to $60 million for 102 dwellings, before operating costs. By comparison, the Community Recovery Village would:

Cost about one-third as much to build, saving roughly $37 to $42 million in capital.
Provide nearly four times the capacity: 400 beds versus 102 dwellings.
Cost about $45,000 per bed, compared with roughly $540,000 to $590,000 per arena dwelling.

These are my projections, and the two models aren’t identical: the arena plan offers private lockable units, while the village uses shared, dual-occupancy units. That’s exactly why council should do this homework in public, with real quotes for site servicing and staffing, before spending a dollar on either.

Any savings should go back to what every resident uses, the riverfront, roads and parks, without raising taxes.

What I Will Fight For on Council

Current, ward-level data before any move. Publish police calls for service, needle pickups and complaints around the H4 before a Mission relocation is approved.
A public budget and timeline. Capital cost, operating cost, who runs it and when, all published before approval.
Decisions in the open. A project this size shouldn’t be approved behind closed doors.
Real alternatives on the table now. A secure recovery village should be evaluated alongside the arena, not after it.
Neighbours at the table. No more concentrating services at the edge of residential areas without real consultation.

I respect the people who work at the Mission, and even the mayor says they do a good job. This isn’t about them. It’s about whether the city plans carefully, spends honestly and tells residents the whole story before asking them to accept the answer.

Election Day is Monday, October 26. Polls are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Vote Xsander Moisenko, Ward 4.

Approved by the official campaign of Xsander Moisenko.