Mayor Drew Dilkens Unveils Vision for “The Village at The Barn” Downtown Homelessness and Housing Help Hub Campus Concept

Former Windsor Arena Site Eyed to Support Vulnerable Populations

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens was joined by Ward 3 Councillor Renaldo Agostino; City Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Ray Mensour; City Commissioner of Human and Health Services Dana Paladino; Windsor Police Chief Jay Crowley; and David Jeffries, Program Director, Ending Homelessness at Avivo Village in Minneapolis, to announce a Homelessness and Housing Help Hub campus concept for the City of Windsor. 

As a follow-up to his State of the City Address earlier this year, Mayor Dilkens presented “The Village at The Barn” — a supportive pod-style village envisioned within the former Windsor Arena in downtown Windsor. Taken alongside the adjacent City-owned Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H4), “The Village at The Barn” would form part of a campus-style multi-building facility to support vulnerable populations in Windsor. 

“The Village at The Barn” facility within the former Windsor Arena is intended to include the following:

• 102 private, lockable dwellings located within a larger secure structure
• Common lounge, communal gathering areas, community activity room
• Restrooms and shower facilities
• Clinical intake and examination area
• Administrative, casework, and counselling rooms
• Access to a safer use space for residents
• Laundry facilities
• Space for future growth, programming, education, and more
• Outdoor greenspace shared with H4 and available for programming

Windsor’s existing H4 site, located within the former Windsor Water World, currently operates as an enriched service centre and inclusive 24-hour drop-in — connecting people experiencing homelessness to services, community support agencies, and basic medical care, all while helping provide for their basic needs, such as food, restrooms, clothing, and quiet and safe spaces for daytime rest. At the completion of current upgrades to the existing H4 facility, including filling in the pool and upgrading the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and restroom facilities, the current site will offer capacity for up to 150 beds, as well as dedicated space for dining and programming. 

Combined, the multi-building campus site would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year; provide wraparound services and supports for individuals experiencing complex barriers, such as homelessness, poverty, addiction, and mental health challenges; offer a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces for individual and group activity, along with quiet spaces; and provide opportunities for recovery, stability, and housing for vulnerable and at-risk populations in the city of Windsor. 

In order to access the rooms, services, and supports within the transitional-housing style village, residents would be required to contribute to the cost of service, including funding through programs like Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), to help cover room and board. If an individual is receiving provincial social assistance, their basic support often includes a designated allowance, which is directly intended to cover room-and-board or rent at transitional facilities like “The Village at The Barn.” The City will prioritize highest-need individuals when considering access to one of the pods within the village.

The City of Windsor’s overall homelessness budget, from April 2026 to March 2027, includes just over $25 million in total annualized funding. Of that, the Ontario government provides $16.7 million, the federal government provides $4.3 million, the City of Windsor provides $3.2 million, and the County of Essex provides $850,000. In addition to community outreach, housing supports, and supportive housing, this funding is allocated to operate emergency shelters and drop-in programs within the region, including the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women & Families, Salvation Army, Downtown Mission, Housing and Homelessness Help Hub (H4), and the Emergency Community Housing Hub (ECH2).

The announcement included concept designs by local architectural firm Architecttura, illustrating how the former Windsor Arena could be utilized to create “The Village at The Barn,” how the facility interior could be configured to maximize accessibility and impact, and how the building would link with the existing H4 to include both facilities and shared open greenspace in a campus-style footprint downtown.

In a show of solidarity and support, the announcement was attended by members of City Council and City administration, along with many stakeholders, including representatives from the health and human services sector in Windsor, as well as business owners and investors connected to the downtown core. 

About Avivo in Minneapolis:

“The Village at The Barn” and the campus-style site, including the existing H4, is inspired by the Avivo site in Minneapolis, which includes Avivo Village, chemical and mental health services, and career and employment services. David Jeffries, a member of the Avivo Village team who connected back in April with a Windsor delegation including Mayor Dilkens, Councillor Agostino, CAO Mensour, and Commissioner Paladino, accepted the Mayor’s invitation to attend the announcement to provide his unique perspective and lived experience in connection with this work in support of vulnerable populations. Avivo was originally founded as the Minneapolis Rehabilitation Centre in 1960, with a focus on providing career, mental health, and chemical addiction services. 

The associated Avivo Village opened in December 2020 and scaled up operations in 2021. Considered a low-barrier transitional housing sanctuary, Avivo currently offers 100 private units and holistic support services in a repurposed former industrial warehouse. The 1.12-acre site features a 48,600-square-foot facility and includes single-occupant shower rooms, nongendered restrooms, communal kitchenettes and coffee areas, and 2,000 square feet of open space, all arranged into discreet residential clusters to resemble neighbourhoods. Like Windsor’s H4, the project emerged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, growing challenges with encampments, and limitations of traditional shelters, to bridge the gap between temporary shelter and permanent housing. Since opening, Avivo Village has demonstrated increased engagement, with people who previously avoided shelters choosing to venture inside; improved housing and health outcomes, with participants accessing services that support long-term stability, not short-term fixes; and reduced public system costs, with lower reliance on emergency rooms, jails, and crisis services. As of April 23, 2026, Avivo Village has served 859 individuals, moved 347 individuals into safe and permanent housing, and reversed 258 overdoses.

Avivo’s collaborative financing model combines foundation grants, corporate support, and funding from city, county, and state sources through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Fee-for-service revenue from diagnostic assessments, mental health therapy, and treatment services provides additional operational stability. This diversified funding approach helps Avivo Village attain long-term financial viability. 

The path to Mayor Dilkens’ vision of “The Village at The Barn” includes:

• December 2, 2019: Council approved the Home Together: Windsor Essex Housing and Homelessness Master Plan, 2019-2028 (HHMP). The HHMP identified goals, guiding principles, strategies, and targets that align with best practices and the needs of the community that are informed by data. The HHMP examined the progress Windsor-Essex had made from 2014-2019 and identified key areas where improvement and expansion of services was necessary to build upon those successes. The HHMP strives to be responsive to provincial and federal housing and homelessness strategies and initiatives while acknowledging that achieving the goals under the plan is a collective responsibility that requires cross-sectoral collaboration to develop system-level solutions. Ultimately, the goal of the HHMP is to ensure that all programs, services, and supports are person-centred and aimed to ensure people obtain and retain housing that is permanent, safe, affordable, and accessible.

• April 2020: Partly in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the City opened the temporary Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H4) at the former Windsor Water World site to fill many gaps in serving and supporting vulnerable citizens experiencing homelessness. H4 began as an emergency response to the pandemic to provide social distancing and safe daytime space to individuals experiencing homelessness. H4 has evolved to provide low barrier service connection to necessary resources, including housing assistance, income assistance, justice services, health care, addiction, and mental health support. H4 provides a co-location for multiple sectors to address the holistic needs of the person. A corresponding Housing Hub was envisioned to expand on the success of the H4 program to foster connections and a pathway into housing for people at risk of or who are experiencing homelessness, while connecting them to supports from multiple agencies and sectors in real time to improve long-term stabilization.

• July 2020: A review of Emergency Shelter Services in Windsor-Essex identified that emergency shelters remained the most expensive response to homelessness costing between $23,629 per bed in Windsor-Essex pre-pandemic and increasing by an additional $16,000-$17,500 per bed during the pandemic. By comparison, a rent subsidy cost approximately $4,500 annually, Housing with Supports Homes cost approximately $18,250, and Housing First Intensive Case Management with rental assistance cost $9,670 at the time.

• March 2021: The Windsor-Essex Coordinated Point-in-Time Count identified that 251 people were experiencing homelessness on any given night, reflecting a 27% increase compared to 2018, when 197 people were identified. Single adults accounted for 79% of people experiencing homelessness in Windsor-Essex. Survey results showed that 42% of respondents needed some time-limited assistance to get back into stable housing, and an additional 35% needed highly intensive supports to stay housed.

• July 2021: Council directed City administration to engage in professional services that would pursue the development of a Housing Hub model, to collect feedback through consultation with consumers and stakeholders that aligns with best practices while providing housing and support services that are flexible and responsive.

• November 2021: City retained Glos Arch + Eng to undertake comprehensive community consultation to explore the feasibility of re-homing and re-imagining the H4 facility as a permanent community asset. As part of the process, a Steering Committee was struck to provide feedback and direction to the development of the Housing Hub project through a collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach. Membership of the various City departments whose knowledge base lends to the scope of the Housing Hub project participated on this committee.

• March 2022: The Windsor-Essex Central Housing Registry waitlist had 6,300 applicants registered and waiting for affordable housing, which represented an increase of approximately 84% from 2016, highlighting the increased need for social and affordable housing in our community.

• May 2022: The Windsor-Essex By-Names Prioritized List, which provides real-time data of people experiencing homelessness in the region, showed there were 463 people actively experiencing some form of homelessness, of which 360 were experiencing chronic or long-term homelessness and would require a varied intensity of case management supports to retain housing. Overall, single adults represented 91.5% of those actively experiencing homelessness. 77 people had been on the list since 2018 – with a combination of chronic and high acuity homelessness who require stabilizing cross-sectoral supports to obtain and retain housing – as there remained limited housing options and support services to adequately address the unique needs of this population and end their homelessness.

• June 2022: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of the housing and homelessness system and increased the visibility of homelessness, as well as provided an opportunity for City administration to leverage senior levels of government capital funding. With some of this funding, the City purchased 500 Tuscarora to operate as the region’s first shelter for families and expanded beds for women, aligning with recommendations provided in the Review of Emergency Shelter Services in Windsor-Essex, approved by Council in 2020. Additional capital and operating funding were used to expand supportive housing for persons exiting chronic homelessness requiring support services to maintain housing.

• August 2022: Council endorsed preliminary studies related to the Housing Hub, utilizing funding approved in the 2022 Capital Budget, directing City administration to move forward with a proposed Housing Hub component of homelessness services, and to pursue additional funding opportunities from senior levels of government, or any other available sources that reduces the amount of funding requested from the municipal tax base. The proposed Housing Hub vision created approximately 64 new permanent supportive housing units, and a community hub for low barrier service connection to vital resources to address inequities in social determinants of health through collaboration, advocacy, and person-centred care. The intention was not to duplicate existing services, but rather to create a robust triaging service that streamlines connections between sectors while improving sustained housing and wellness outcomes. The re-imagined program was also intended to create a space for both those experiencing homelessness and those who may be at risk of homelessness. Feedback from participants, staff, and service providers cited 2km as the desired distance for the average participant to be able to travel on foot to seek resources, which are primarily located within the boundaries of Ward 3 downtown.

• March 1, 2024: Mayor Dilkens and the City of Windsor launched the Housing Solutions Made for Windsor plan (HSMFW), releasing a list of municipal, City-owned lands – including the former Windsor Arena site – to activate them for accelerated residential development. The plan was introduced to address the national housing crisis by fast-tracking the building of housing, including affordable and “missing middle” housing options to address diverse and evolving needs across the community and across a broad spectrum of citizens. Many of the properties in the HSMFW portfolio include overlaps with work later undertaken through the Strengthen the Core plan to revitalize the downtown and address ongoing and complex issues around homelessness, mental health, and addictions.

• April 3, 2024: Mayor Dilkens and the City officially launched the Strengthen the Core: Downtown Windsor Revitalization Plan, establishing seven distinct action items, including expanding H4 service hours, increasing downtown auxiliary police patrols, and stepping up core cleanliness to tackle property damage, petty crime, and perception of safety concerns, and to increase engagement and activations to attract new investments, businesses, residents and visitors to the downtown area.

• April 2024: City identified and approved 700 Wellington Avenue as the future site for its permanent H4. The 7-acre industrial lot was selected after City staff spent years searching for locations and examined over 200 properties. Council unanimously backed the location because it offered enough space to host an expanded multi-service hub and up to 64 supportive housing units. However, following high land acquisition costs and expropriation obstacles, the City later formally abandoned its plan for the Wellington property.

• October 2024: The Windsor-Essex Coordinated Point-in-Time Count (PIT) identified that 672 people were experiencing homelessness on any given night, which is a 167% increase in comparison to 251 people identified in the 2021 PIT count. This increase can be associated with a methodological change, including a longer survey period and improved data collection, but also reflects the growing trends in homelessness both locally and nationally. The primary contributing factors for an individual to experience homelessness included insufficient income and affordability challenges (27%), relationship or family breakdown (21%), and the third being housing instability, including evictions and landlord conflicts. While mental health and substance use were commonly reported, they were generally described as contributing or compounding factors rather than root causes.

• December 9, 2024: City Council endorsed program funding to expand the shelter system by adding 73 warming-centre spaces throughout Windsor-Essex, which complemented the existing 35 overnight drop-in spaces in the system at the time. Utilizing federal government funding through the “Reaching Home Program”, the City expanded hours at H4 to operate an overnight warming centre with 35 spaces from 12:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., added 12 spaces to the Salvation Army warming centre, added 17 spaces to the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women & Families; and approved funding for urgent repairs and/or capital improvements at various shelters, including a decision to explore the conversion of the pool at the former Windsor Water World site into additional shelter space with additional shelter beds and expanded services.

• December 2024: City announced the decision to discontinue efforts to acquire the land at 700 Wellington Avenue, which had been identified to serve as the future Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H4).

• May 26, 2025: City Council voted to expand the search for a permanent H4 site beyond the original two-kilometre downtown radius, and authorized City administration to look for potential hub locations city-wide.

• July 28, 2025: The City moved forward with multi-million-dollar upgrades to enhance the H4 site by filling in the former Windsor Water World pool to provide more space for beds and upgrading the facility’s restrooms and HVAC systems.

• April 1, 2026: Mayor Dilkens, Councillor Renaldo Agostino, CAO Ray Mensour, and Commissioner of Human and Health Services Dana Paladino visited and toured the Avivo Village in Minneapolis – an indoor, transitional housing model – to gather operational insights on affordable and supportive housing with wraparound health services to help inform Windsor’s own centralized H4 site and the broader goals of a Housing Hub component.

• April 8, 2026: As part of the 2026 State of the City Address – “Windsor’s Long Game: Investing Responsibly, Protecting Our Future” – Mayor Dilkens identified a desire to explore a new initiative to repurpose the long-vacant Windsor Arena into a support facility linked to the nearby H4.

• April 13, 2026: In response to a motion brought forward by Councillor Agostino, City Council directed Administration to report back on options for the centralization of social services, where feasible, within and around the H4 area to enhance service integration and improve client access. This decision further tasked Administration to examine opportunities to enhance service delivery in the H4 area, including assessing the feasibility of utilizing existing municipal assets, such as the neighbouring Windsor Arena.

• May 27, 2026: Mayor Dilkens – joined by Councillor Agostino, Windsor Police Chief Jason Crowley, members of City Council, a representative from Avivo Village, and downtown Windsor stakeholders – announced “The Village at The Barn”; a pod-style supportive and transitional housing facility envisioned for location within the former Windsor Arena, to form a campus-style multi-building facility along with the existing H4 site to support vulnerable populations in Windsor.

For more information on the City’s Human and Health Services projects, initiatives, and services, visit CityWindsor.ca, or the Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H4) site, or contact 311.

Learn more about the Avivo facility and operations at the Avivo website.

Quotes:

“I am proud to bring forward this vision for ‘The Village at The Barn’ in downtown Windsor. The City of Windsor, in partnership with the Government of Canada, the Ontario Government, and the County of Essex, is investing over $25 million in Homelessness services and supports each year. It is imperative that our investments drive noticeable outcomes on the streets of Windsor and in the lives of those suffering from addiction and mental health issues. This supportive and transitional pod-style village is modelled after a concept that has been proven to move vulnerable populations toward stable housing in a more dignified and cost-effective manner than what is available locally today. The concept builds on work undertaken for years, through extensive public and stakeholder consultation around the creation of H4 and the exploration of a Housing Hub, to arrive at a path forward that can work for Windsor. ‘The Village at The Barn’ is that path forward. This will be a place named to honour its history as the ‘Barn’, as well as its future purpose as a ‘Village’; a place where our efforts are meaningful and impactful; and where the transition from homelessness, hopelessness, isolation, and addiction – to being housed, safe, connected, resilient, and stable is the ultimate end goal. We will need the support of upper levels of government and community stakeholders to achieve the goals of this vision. After all, it takes a village…”
- Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens

“When I think of what we’re doing here, it is clear to me: we are talking about changing the system. We’re recognizing the good work that has been done, and the possibility of even greater impact. We’re talking about creating an opportunity to do something transformational, and where vulnerable people can have agency in their lives because I still believe people want to change. They want to do better and having a home is just the beginning. And rest assured we’re not going in blind. We went out, time and again, and we looked for a more stable path forward. We are looking to those who are succeeding in this ecosystem, and we are following their lead. ‘The Village at The Barn’ is about possibility and potential. It is the next downtown story that is just waiting to be written, and I’m proud to be part of this chapter.”
- Councillor Renaldo Agostino, Ward 3

“The City of Windsor, through the Human and Health Services portfolio, allocates funds to shelters to address the very real needs in our community. However, that process is reactive, costly, and does not address the root problems. ‘The Village at The Barn’ proposes a Housing First approach, helping to fill the gap needed to make long lasting change and significant, noticeable, and measurable impact in our fight to end homelessness in Windsor.”
- Dana Paladino, Commissioner, Human and Health Services, City of Windsor

"Calls involving homelessness, addiction, and other complex challenges place significant demands on our police service. This innovative centralized location will help officers support those in need, connect vulnerable populations to wraparound services, and foster a safer community. I am pleased to see this announcement and look forward to working with the City on next steps."
- Chief Jason Crowley, Windsor Police Service

 “Avivo Village came into being during a time of increased numbers of individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Minneapolis. Historically, people who had lost housing were dealing with many barriers; however, in the wake of the opioid epidemic and the COVID pandemic – these complexities grew exponentially. Avivo Village was intentionally designed to help these individuals come into shelter and then move onto permanent housing. The model works. Since opening, over 350 people have moved from Avivo Village into permanent housing. We are honored to support the City of Windsor in seeking holistic, dignified solutions to end homelessness.”
- David Jeffries, Program Director, Ending Homelessness, Avivo Village