'I have no place to go': 1616 Ouellette residents without shelter speak out
CBC
Billie-Jo Steptoe has been living at the John Atkinson Memorial Community Centre since last Wednesday. She says it's been difficult living with more than "100 roommates."
"You don't get much sleep," she said. "The situation is stressful."
Steptoe and other displaced residents of the apartment building at 1616 Ouellette Ave. were evacuated to an emergency shelter set up by the Canadian Red Cross at the community centre on November 22.
Evacuated residents of the downtown Windsor building were without proper heat and electricity. The building's property manager has said residents will be left out of their units for at least eight months.
After previously being told by the City of Windsor that the shelter would be open for as long as was needed, the city has now decided to close the shelter on Monday at 11 a.m. The situation has left Steptoe and her fiancé — who both have disabilities — and Steptoe's 17-year-old daughter without a roof over their heads for the moment.
Although Steptoe, who is partly blind, and her family were offered an apartment last Thursday, she was unable to file the paperwork until this Friday.
Along with Steptoe, Jerrod Lefler, another resident of 1616 Ouellette, will also be without a roof over his head.
"I have no place to go," he said. "I have absolutely no plans. I don't know what I'm going to do."
Lefler said there are about 15 people who are in the same situation as him.
In an emailed statement to CBC News, Jason Moore, senior manager of communications and customer service with the City of Windsor, said he was not able to share official numbers of how many people will be left without accommodations following the city's decision to close the shelter.
Lefler said that he would like the city to do more to help 1616 Ouellette residents who still do not have accommodation to find a place to stay.
"People last night weren't sleeping," Lefler said. "Some people are crying. You can hear them crying because they have nowhere to go."
"There's hurting people that, through no fault of their own, are going to be homeless tomorrow, me being one of them."
The City of Windsor said it's continuing to work on finding shelter for those residents who haven't found alternative accommodations.
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