With more than 1,000 refugees receiving help, Matthew House is in the red

Mike Morency says asthe end of the year draws near, Matthew House is facing a $75,000 shortfall in revenue.

The Windsor shelter and resource centre helps refugee claimants with housing and support in their first few vulnerable months in Canada.

Morency is the executive director at Matthew House and says the level of support they offer is in jeopardy with revenueand donations falling.

LISTEN | Matthew House executive director speaks with Windsor Morning about financial issues:

Windsor Morning9:32Refugee centre deficit

Refugees coming to Windsor rely on Matthew House during their transition, but a financial crisis will affect how the families are served.

Exacerbating the problem, he says, is the number of refugee claimants coming to Windsor over a short period of time.

"We have over a thousand open files There's 128 living with us right now. There's another 38 who are sheltered elsewhere in the community that we're working with. And then there's a whole bunch at the hotels ... who we're providing some measure of settlement support for,even when they're not living with us.

"Currently at the hotels in Windsor, my understanding is we're just shy of 900."

The refugee support network recently opened a second location in Windsor, off of Huron Church Road.

Morency spoke withWindsor Morning host Amy Dodge.Here is part of their conversation.

How bad is the financial situation at Matthew House?

It's pretty significant. Our revenue side is off, both by way of donor dollars, and once people reach a certain point in their process, they contribute to their shelter cost,that's off by about $75,000.

You recently expanded. How much has that impacted your current situation?

It's certainly increased our expenses. Our donor dollars people in Windsor tend to be fairly caring and giving, and people supported that expansion project.But the ongoing expenses of that property are there.

One of the biggest issues is just the number of refugee claimants coming to our community needing shelter and support and changes in government processes are delaying the length of time before they are eligible for social assistance or eligible for a work permit.

So during that period of time, not only are they not able to contribute to their shelter costs, we're paying for their prescriptions, we're paying for all of their food. We're making sure they have clothing.

It's just the need is outstripping our current capacity.

If you don't make up the deficit, what needs to happen?

That'll be a decision for our board, but the reality is we may be forced into a situation where we have to scale back some services or scale back the number of people that we're able to support.

At a time when our services are needed more than ever, we certainly don't want to be in a situation like Toronto where we have refugee claimants on the streets.

We're actually working with some community partners to figure it out as we head into December, January, February, how can we make sure that doesn't happen in Windsor?

But at the same time, our giving is way down and we need community support to to balance that out, to make sure we stay strong through the winter months.

Why doesn't Matthew House qualify for government grants or government funding?

It's specifically federal government funding we are not eligible for because the federal government recognizes that they have a commitment under the Geneva Convention to allow people to enter our country and make a refugee claim.

Their position is that they're not responsible for them until such time as they've had a successful hearing.Our stance is that all the research shows that the more support people get in the first 30 to 90 days, the more successful they are in employment, education or starting their own business within one to three years.

There's the disconnect.

Thenyou always get into the drama between the levels of government. The municipal government says housing and basic needs stuff isa provincial responsibility. The province says immigration is a federal responsibility.

Technically they're both right but at the end of the day it's refugee claimants who need support.

What are some of the challenges that you face trying to raise money, especially right now as there are a lot more pressures on households with savings?

I think recognizing that there are pressures and Matthew House we use a home and family approach and we take that same approach not just to the people we serve, but to our staff, to our volunteers and even to our donors. Our donors are part of the MatthewHouse family

When your family is struggling, you don't want to do an extra heavy appeal and go, listen, we need your help. But we do.

So that's certainly a struggle,recognizingthat people in our community, in the broader region, are struggling.

Though there are some businesses, there are some individuals out there that aren't struggling as much. Certainly we would need their help.

What do you need from the community? If people can't give money, maybe is there any other way people can support?

Absolutely.

We just had this week seven more children arrive at Matthew House that we need Christmas sponsors for. So Christmas gifts, gift cards, grocery gift cards are a huge need for us.

We get donated food, but we often don't get perishable donated food.

We haven't had a halal meat in our freezers in weeks, let alone other meats and protein that people need as well.

There's always opportunity for people to volunteer alongside us and they can reach out to our volunteer coordinator to explore a plethora of different ways that people can can volunteer alongside us.