By Cecilia Nasmith
Northumberland Warden Mandy Martin was among the group of her peers who gathered earlier this month for the Eastern Ontario Warden's Caucus meeting.
Taking place March 9 and 10 in the County of Lennox and Addington, the event was their annual session to set strategic priorities for the year ahead.
For 2023, that would be affordable and attainable housing (with a focus on the caucus's 7-in-7 regional housing plan), long-term care, and paramedicine services.
Affordable and Attainable Housing
Across the EOWC region, there are some 12,000 to 14,000 units on municipal community-rental housing wait lists, with people waiting an average of almost five years (in some cases, up to 10 years) for access to thee units. As part of the province's goal of building 1.5-million homes by 2031, the EOWC wants to increase housing supply through a bold regional housing plan referred to as 7-in-7 – building at least 7,000 community rental units throughout the region over seven years. This plan would involve partnering with Federal and provincial governments, as well as Indigenous partners and the private and non-profit sectors. Using a mixed-model approach, the plan has the added potential to bring on nearly 21,000 additional market-rate units for a total of 28,000 housing units. The EOWC is currently working with KWM Consulting Inc. to create a business case to move forward, and is calling on provincial and Federal governments to develop a strong financial framework to support municipalities in preparing, planning and implementing housing and related support services. They are also advocating for upper orders of government to standardize language around housing, with clear, streamlined definitions for both “affordable” and “attainable” housing.
Long-Term Care
Municipal governments are key partners in the delivery of long-term-care, an issue highlighted continuously throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The EOWC was an initial advocate for the four-hours-of-care model the province is in the process of implementing, and continues to provide evidence-based feedback to inform government decisions around long-term care and related supports. In the year ahead, the EOWC will be advocating for a long-term-care human-resources strategy to address regional staffing shortages, one which works for rural homes and their labour markets as well. Towards this end, the EOWC continues to call on the province to eliminate staffing agencies that pose an unnecessary and unsustainable resource and cost burden on municipalities. The EOWC is also advocating for a provincial review and modernization of the long-term-care funding framework, during which they stand ready to continue to provide sound input on behalf of member municipalities and to work with government and stakeholders.
Paramedic Services
Following the onset of the pandemic, EOWC member municipalities have experienced increased pressures on their paramedic services. In the coming year, the caucus will advocate for permanent, sustainable and predictable funding to support paramedic services as well as community paramedicine initiatives. The EOWC calls on the province to modernize the dispatch system to improve the prioritization of calls and overall level of services. It is also advocating for the province and associated stakeholders to reduce offload delays at hospitals, which would allow paramedics to spend more hours serving their communities. The EOWC is now working with ApexPro Consulting Inc. To update the EOWC's 2019 Review of Eastern Ontario Paramedic Services Situation Overview report. This will provide a current regional-level data overview of paramedic services. It is scheduled to be finalized this summer, at which time the EOWC looks forward to sharing the report, findings and recommendations with government and applicable stakeholders.
As well, the caucus will continue to address municipal-sector issues that arise throughout the year on an as-needed basis.
“Now, more than ever, municipal governments play a vital role as organizations that unify and strengthen Ontario and Canada,” caucus Chair Peter Emon commented in the press release.
“The EOWC is in a position to lead, inform and respond during the coming year and beyond. The caucus has set clear goals, and we intend to strongly advocate on behalf of our region's communities and residents.”
