Westcourt Place Displaced Residents
Donation protected
We need to help at least the most vulnerable within our community and are asking for an initial target of about $1,000 per resident (incl. children) to help out at least the most vulnerable and those at risk of being pushed to the streets. At now over 28 days or 4-weeks when last updated that works out to about $36 per day or a little over $250 a week per person* at best so far and we likely will still be out at Christmas. The costs for all residents at this point are no doubt exceeding this request individually, but some are far worse off than others financially and at least some are at risk of being pushed into the cold streets or perhaps the overstuffed shelters which will not even have full capacity for the typical homeless by 2028 (see below). My fellow residents are productive members of society that have had their home ripped away through no fault of their own. Please Help!
The money will be used for the top priorities: Shelter, Food, Transportation and Clothing if needed or even to just to make payments on some nearly maxed out credit cards as some struggle to survive this displacement or perhaps a parent to get their child an Xmas or Holiday gift (because their money is needed for survival). This will be up to the verified residents of Westcourt Place we help. We will be reaching out to our community in other ways, but please help if you can. *Please see added disclaimers below.
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Our Story (preamble): On November 12, 2019, a fire took place in the high-rise building known as Westcourt Place, located at 99 Chatham Street East in Windsor, ON. This fire caused smoke throughout the 21 floors of the building causing evacuation of the residential and commercial tenants on the day of around 7 am.
Since then the 200 residential tenants of 164 units have all been without a home, some housed with friends or family, some left the city to Toronto and other areas, some in hotels or motels and some at least initially at WFCU Centre for shelter on cots for a few days before being relocated (most, not all) to a local hotel which the owners stopped paying for on Dec 5, 2019.
While there has been some media coverage of a few residents occasionally, the overall needs, requirements, voice and priorities of the collective displaced residential tenants (some with renters/tenants' insurance, some without) including practical things to live for a possibly extended period of time. Most of us left with clothes on our backs and although some were allowed a brief access to get a small amount of clothes and essentially that option has mostly been eliminated.
We do not have access to our apartments, our homes, our possessions and have a vague or unknown timeline and are scattered and it is starting to financially become impossible as some are being kicked out of motels, some have or will soon max out their credit cards, some have no reasonable access to transportation and a few as in the picture had their cars burned as our building was downtown and mostly everyone has forgotten about us.
Thank you!
Residents of Westcourt Place (on their behalf collectively)
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News References:
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/a-nightmare-concerns-over-hotel-bills-by-displaced-westcourt-place-residents-1.4717383
https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/displaced-westcourt-place-tenants-reaching-out-to-the-community/wcm/95f9dd26-772e-4990-b16d-73caa742de02/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/westcourt-place-tenants-frustrated-1.5387027
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/windsor-plan-calls-for-end-to-homelessness-by-2028-1.4673835
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-106-windsor-morning/clip/15750264-westcourt-residents-association
*Disclaimers & Clarifications: Just like any fundraising based on a disaster, whether a hurricane, typhoon, tornado, forest fires (Alberta, California), winter storms, floods, on this this case a fire that caused evacuation of the building on November 12, 2019. This money will be used and distributed within the NEEDS of the residents that request help and provide sufficient information to verify that they are actual people that live/lived in our building. Of course we will try to help as many as we can, but not necessarily everyone, not necessarily in exact equal amounts and all such help is offered and accepted on a VOLUNTARY BASIS.
The money will be used for the top priorities: Shelter, Food, Transportation and Clothing if needed or even to just to make payments on some nearly maxed out credit cards as some struggle to survive this displacement or perhaps a parent to get their child an Xmas or Holiday gift (because their money is needed for survival). This will be up to the verified residents of Westcourt Place we help. We will be reaching out to our community in other ways, but please help if you can. *Please see added disclaimers below.
------------------------------------------
Our Story (preamble): On November 12, 2019, a fire took place in the high-rise building known as Westcourt Place, located at 99 Chatham Street East in Windsor, ON. This fire caused smoke throughout the 21 floors of the building causing evacuation of the residential and commercial tenants on the day of around 7 am.
Since then the 200 residential tenants of 164 units have all been without a home, some housed with friends or family, some left the city to Toronto and other areas, some in hotels or motels and some at least initially at WFCU Centre for shelter on cots for a few days before being relocated (most, not all) to a local hotel which the owners stopped paying for on Dec 5, 2019.
While there has been some media coverage of a few residents occasionally, the overall needs, requirements, voice and priorities of the collective displaced residential tenants (some with renters/tenants' insurance, some without) including practical things to live for a possibly extended period of time. Most of us left with clothes on our backs and although some were allowed a brief access to get a small amount of clothes and essentially that option has mostly been eliminated.
We do not have access to our apartments, our homes, our possessions and have a vague or unknown timeline and are scattered and it is starting to financially become impossible as some are being kicked out of motels, some have or will soon max out their credit cards, some have no reasonable access to transportation and a few as in the picture had their cars burned as our building was downtown and mostly everyone has forgotten about us.
Thank you!
Residents of Westcourt Place (on their behalf collectively)
------------------------------------------
News References:
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/a-nightmare-concerns-over-hotel-bills-by-displaced-westcourt-place-residents-1.4717383
https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/displaced-westcourt-place-tenants-reaching-out-to-the-community/wcm/95f9dd26-772e-4990-b16d-73caa742de02/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/westcourt-place-tenants-frustrated-1.5387027
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/windsor-plan-calls-for-end-to-homelessness-by-2028-1.4673835
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-106-windsor-morning/clip/15750264-westcourt-residents-association
*Disclaimers & Clarifications: Just like any fundraising based on a disaster, whether a hurricane, typhoon, tornado, forest fires (Alberta, California), winter storms, floods, on this this case a fire that caused evacuation of the building on November 12, 2019. This money will be used and distributed within the NEEDS of the residents that request help and provide sufficient information to verify that they are actual people that live/lived in our building. Of course we will try to help as many as we can, but not necessarily everyone, not necessarily in exact equal amounts and all such help is offered and accepted on a VOLUNTARY BASIS.
Fundraising team (2)
JAMES WHITE
Organizer
Windsor, ON
Diane Khoury
Team member