It’s a jam-packed Social Services Committee agenda at Wellington County this month. Budget? Yes, there’s some budget stuff to get done, both for this year and for next year. There are some updates on current and pending construction projects, some concerns about staffing at the childcare centres, and some notes about funding key endeavours under social services. Let’s get into the details with this meeting preview…
NOTE: This meeting takes place at 1 pm in Guthrie Room at the Wellington County Administration Centre on Woolwich Street.
Delegations:
General Manager and Chief of Paramedic Services Stephen Dewar will be back to delegate and give the committee an update about response times in Wellington County. In the report, Dewar cites the geographic size of areas like Erin and Mapleton, plus their distance to a hospital and a low volume of calls as the reasons why it’s so hard to achieve response time goals. The service is trying to use data to determine how best to deploy ambulances to improve those response times.
Guelph Transitional Housing Construction Project: Status Report 1 – Work is currently underway to transform 65 Delhi Street into transitional housing for our community’s vulnerable members. So far, much of the preliminary work has been complete including necessary demolitions and structural shoring. Next, work on foundations and electrical and utility serving will begin. The project is expected to be completed by late fall 2024.
Tender Award: Corridor Improvements 576 Woolwich St – A two-storey building with 100 residential units needs new plumbing, a new ceiling and LED light fixtures on the first floor. Zehr Construction out of St. Jacobs put in the lowest bid for the job at $303,200, and staff are recommending that committee proceed with the tender.
Social Services Financial Statements as of October 31, 2023 – Not much has changed between September’s report and October’s. It looks like social services, specifically housing and affordable housing, is still about $2 million overdrawn for the year.
Ontario Works 2024 User Fees and Charges – Every year, the committee has to approve user fees at Ontario Works for the next year. These costs include photocopies, faxes, and interpreter services, and next year those services will cost exactly the same as they do today pending committee’s approval.
Social Services 2024-2033 Preliminary Ten-Year Plan – First, this is the preliminary 2024 budget and 10-year plan, which means that after this meeting it has to go though the Administration, Finance and Human Resources Committee meeting next. Let’s break each of the three service areas down:
Social Services and Housing -> Naturally, this is where the biggest changes are, and the ones that have the most impact on the bottom line in both the City and the County. There’s a $4.06 million increase to social services including increases to shelter wages, increased emergency shelter space, increased transitional housing, a greater number of rent supplements, and the funding of support staff needed to operate these programmes. There’s also an increase of $382,000 for rent supplements to offset the loss of provincial funding, plus an increase of $1.2 million to purchased services due to the rising costs of repairs and general maintenance of County-owned properties.
Ontario Works -> Benefits are 100 per cent provincially funded and increases will not impact the municipal tax levy, but the administration funding will be funded at 2023 levels, which are really 2018 levels since those rates have been frozen. Much of the changes are in funding sources, one type of grant or program is replacing another, but there’s still an over 15 per cent increase to the forecast budget in this area compared to 2023. The capital plan has about $2.9 million in spending for improvements and upgrades to the administrative offices in Guelph and Fergus.
Childcare -> The workforce costs are covered by the Ontario government, but there will be a loss of just over $1 million from one-time transitional grant and that’s been split about 60-40 between the County and the City. User fees are going up because childcare centres are returning to full operating capacity, and there’s also $565,000 for lifecycle repairs under the capital budget.
State of the Wellington Child Care System and Workforce – This report is meant to give an overview of the staffing situation at the area’s childcare centres and staff shortages are a fairly big issue. Nearly two-thirds of programs are relying on non-registered programme staff more than on RECEs, one-quarter are depending on supervisors to cover staff absenses, and 1-in-5 have had Director approvals from the Ministry of Education for supervisor positions to be filled by staff that do not meet qualifications. On top of that, 36 per cent have paused enrolment, 9 per cent have closed a programme room due to decreased service levels, and 4 per cent have shortened operating hours.
In other words, “substantial growth of a qualified workforce is needed,” in the words of the report. According to the Ministry, approximately 8,500 registered Early Childhood Educators are required in Ontario to meet the goals for space creation under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system. Staff say that more recruitment and retention efforts that include improved compensation, benefits, and overall working conditions should help with staff issues.
Transfer of 400 King Street, Mount Forest to Service System Manager – The Wellington Housing Corporation presently owns this building, but the mortgage will be paid off next summer, which gives the housing service provider a chance to either exit the agreement or hold on to the building with a renegotiated agreement. In analyzing the advantage and disadvantages, it seems like staff see nothing but an upside to holding on to 400 King Street and are advising the committee to prepare for the building’s transfer in 2024.
Social Assistance Renewal Plan and Employment Services Transformation Update – Essentially, using the Employment Services Transformation, Ontario Works employees will be focused on clients who are employment ready while referring others who need more help through the Employment Ontario system for that assistance. Caseworkers will still have the ability to issue some participation in those advanced benefits to clients in order to stabilize their lives or increase their wellbeing.
Integration of Social Services Update – This will be a verbal report. No written report was included in the agenda.
2024 100% Municipal Contribution to Sanguen Health Centre – You may recall that the Sanguen Health Van team delegated to committee last month with a request for funds to keep the service going once federal funds expire in 2024. Committee voted to defer a request for those funds until Sanguen and County staff had a chance put their heads together, which they have now done. The recommendation now is that the County pick up a tab of $90,718 for 2024 from the County Shared Services Reserve while working with Sanguen on a plan to develop annualized funding. A report on that second part should come back by September 2024.
2024 100% Municipal Contribution to Daytime Drop-In Services in Guelph – Following up on an October 17 Guelph City Council meeting on housing and social services two of the motions passed concerning the provision of daytime shelter services in Guelph, which are presently being managed by the Royal City Mission. As the City looks at the possible provision of this service elsewhere, County is recommending that they provide $2,323 on a monthly basis to Royal City Mission starting on January 1, and then $27,872 to support the ongoing operation of daytime drop-in services once a permanent provider has been secured.
Guelph Politico 