Windsor's homeless now known by name

A final report researching homelessness in the city has put a name to the 201 people living on the streets of Windsor.

Members of Family Services Windsor-Essex and Housing andChildren's Servicesrecently provided the report to city council. They say 201 is now the benchmark number for understanding howservices in the city are working to help its most vulnerable.

The Point in Time Count report has been transformed into a by-names prioritized list, which provides every homeless person's name and background to services that they may access.

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The report was compiled with the help of several front-line service organizations including the Downtown Mission.

Kris Santin, who said he was homeless for 11 months, said the list is alreadyhelping homeless people. In his case,working with the missionhelped him find a home and get off drugs.

"Here, I got clean. They [helped me get]methodone, so this place really helped me," Santin said.

Hesaid the report was a great idea, but added it's important for service providersin Windsorto continue to follow upwith people on the list after helping them.

That's something Kelly Goz, the coordinator of Housing Administration and Development, believes her organization will now be able to do.

Thelist will allow service providers to prioritizebased on a person's needs, she said, not by the time the signed up.

"You know your neighbours by name and you start to treat them in a different way," Goz said. "There's more of an accountability when you know someone, who is homeless, by their name. You know their situation."

Goz said manychronicallyhomeless peopleneed to have a place to call their own before they are able to seek help for other issues, which can include trauma, mental health struggles and addictions.

The city expects to share the list of names with front-line service providers in April with the hope of understanding the background of every homeless person.