2022 Fourth Quarter Activity Report
March 16, 2023
The following is the most recent consolidated Quarterly Report that the DSB will be sending to member municipalities and posting on the public website. Expect Quarterly Reports in February, May, September, and November of each year. The program statistics are provided separately and updated monthly. They are available on the website by clicking the following link: Monthly Program Statistics
CAO Overview
The DSB 2022 Fourth Quarter (Unaudited) Financial Report was presented to the Board and projects a year-end municipal surplus of $963,534. Ontario Works is forecasted to be underspent by $41,915. Children’s Services expenses are forecasted to be on budget. Community Housing is forecasted to be under budget by $730,586. Paramedic Services is forecasted to be over budget by $164,743. Interest revenue on non-reserve accounts is forecasted to be $355,777 more than budgeted.
The DSB quarterly financial reports are available on the DSB website by clicking the following link: Quarterly Financial Reports.
Paramedic Services
COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery
In conjunction with Public Health agencies, Paramedic Services have moved from a “Response” to a “Recovery” framework. This includes but not limited to ongoing participation and advocacy regarding vaccination and preparing for COVID-19 long term resurgence for years to come.
Community Paramedicine Long-Term Care
Our CP Team has not been immune from the impacts of the recovery from COVID-19. The service has issued an external posting for 2 Full-Time Community Paramedics to replace recent departures and expects to have those filled by late February. The team has over 160 rostered patients in our communities and continues to effectively collaborate and enhance capacity for the home and community care sector.
Ministry of Health Ambulance Service Review
The service has received our preliminary report outlining the team’s findings and whether (or not) the service has satisfied all requirements to be certified as a land ambulance operator in the province of Ontario. The team commended our service for our preparation for the review as well as our Quality Assurance and Continuous Quality Improvement programs. While we acknowledge that this review was a departure from previous process as it was completed virtually, the team identified only 2 findings and both were related to our response time challenges. A letter of response from our service to the Ministry of Health was drafted and sent to the Ministry within the 30 day requirement and we now await a final follow-up meeting to complete the review process. It is important to note that the DSB has already received our 3-year license to operate an ambulance service in advance of our follow-up meeting with the Ministry of Health.
Winter Recruitment
Due to our ongoing and unprecedented staffing pressures, Paramedic Services is holding a winter recruitment intake in December as we have had a measure of interest from candidates for our “open” posting. We are hoping to add up to 7 new Regular Part-Time employees this round which should help alleviate some of our staffing pressures.
Children’s Services
In the fourth quarter, the average enrollment in licensed child care was 529 children,422 full fee and 107 subsidized. Compared to last quarter there has been a 3.2% decrease and compared to last year at this time, enrollment has increased by 8%. The number of total visits to EarlyON Child & Family Centres by parents/caregivers and children was 2377, and the total activity kits provided was 132. Compared to last quarter the number of visits increased by 18.2%, activity kits provided decreased by 73%. Compared to last year at this time, number of visits increased by 140% and activity kits provided decreased by 80%.
During the height of the pandemic families could not attend at the EarlyON sites, however, now that EarlyON staff are back in their sites full time, EarlyON Centres are encouraging families to attend in person and participate in group activities as opposed to providing activity kits.
Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care System (CWELCC)
On behalf of Service Managers, OMSSA sent a letter dated November 23, 2022, to the Ministry of Education’s Assistant Deputy Minister, Holly Moran, related to early years and child care workforce retention and recruitment issues.
The primary concerns are the workforce challenges in early years programs and childcare sector. The lack of staffing is leading to room closures, many programs do not have the capacity to increase spaces to keep up with the demand.
The letter provides several potential solutions for the Ministry of Education to consider, including improved communication between the Ministry and Service Managers, prioritizing the recruitment and retention of child care workforce, and a child care expansion and growth plan.
OMSSA is additionally advocating within the letter that additional notice regarding the funding formula change for 2024 would be helpful to support planning. Service Managers want to work in partnership with the Minister of Education to ensure increased affordability, access, equity and quality to children’s services.
2023 Funding / Canada Wide Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care System (CWELCC) Guidelines 2023
The Early Years and Childcare Funding approach will remain unchanged from 2022 for 2023 while the Ministry develops a new Child Care Funding Formula (CCFF), which aims to integrate the current approach for allocating child care funds with the new Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program.
The Ministry is introducing a 5% holdback on the allocations, including CWELCC, which will be released after the ministry review of the 2023 Financial Statements reporting and reconciliation process.
The 2023 CWELCC Fee Reduction and Workforce Compensation allocation increased by $1, 333, 565. Service providers will receive funding to further reduce their fees by an additional 37% to a minimum daily rate of $12/day. The Manitoulin Sudbury DSB will provide a cost escalation adjustment of 2.75% to all enrolled Service Providers. This funding can address operating cost increases such as salaries and wages, benefits, operations, and accommodations.
Fee subsidy and parental contribution reduction for eligible children will decrease by an additional 25%. In 2023, funding will be provided to support workforce compensation for eligible RECE staff to receive an annual increase of $1/hour, to a maximum of $25/hour and RECE program staff will move to a base wage of $19/hour and $21/hour for RECE child care supervisors and home child care visitors.
Funding devoted to the Canada-Ontario Early Childhood and Workforce Agreement, for the retention and recruitment of high-quality child care and early years workforce was received in the amount of $144, 123 for the period of January – March 2023.
Also included is the renewed Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Agreement, to support child care and early years program delivery. The Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB has received an additional $72, 588 for Child Care and $181, 967 for EarlyON. The Ministry will continue to provide a one-time transitional grant, to help offset the 5% administration threshold and continue to help offset a portion of the 50/50 administration cost share. The amount of the transitional grant is $414,902.
New funding has been allocated to EarlyON Child and Family Centres for mental health supports which will leverage and enhance existing mental health resources and capacity building strategies. This allocation is in the amount of $29, 066.
Access and Inclusion Framework and Notional Space Targets
A memo was received from the Ministry of Education dated December 19, 2022. The memo outlines that the vision for the CWELCC system in Ontario is that more families have access to high quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care.
Under the agreement with the Government of Canada, Ontario has been funded to support the creation of 86, 000 new licensed child care spaces (relative to 2019) by December 2026. Since 2019, 33,000 new spaces have become operational. This leaves 53, 000 new spaces to be created over the course of the CWELCC agreement. The Ministry has prioritized creating affordable child care spaces in communities with populations who need them most. The focus will be given to resolving longstanding issues related to equity of access and inclusion.
The Ministry has developed an Access and Inclusion Framework to with an increased focus on access as it relates to inclusion. As a first step, Service System Managers have been asked to review their estimated space expansion targets and identify priority neighbourhoods for CWELCC funding. The 5-year (2022-2026) space allocation for the Manitoulin Sudbury District is 183. The school-based allocation is 10 and community-based allocation is 173.
Eligible Service Providers will be able to receive a grant covering up to $90 per square foot of a new or expanded spaces with a cap up to $350K for every 50 child care spaces created. The ministry will allocate funding for the 2023-24 capital start-up grants to Service System Managers using the CWELCC child care allocation formula. Service system managers will distribute the grants to licensed Service Providers in accordance with funding guidelines.
Ontario Works
In the fourth quarter of 2022, the Ontario Works/Temporary Care Caseload average was 487. Compared to last year at this time, the caseload has increased by 0.2%.
On October 20th, 2022, the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association (OMSSA) held an in-person meeting during which the members discussed issues related to Social Assistance Renewal, Employment Services Transformation, and the Centralized Intake Rollout, with the Centralized Intake Rollout being the most pertinent issue. Previously, all applications were processed by staff at the local office, centralized intake is the new model for onboarding clients to Ontario Works (OW) which has opened 3 new avenues for OW application and eligibility determination with the goal to have most applications processed by the Intake and Benefits Administration Unit (IBAU). In November of 2022, a letter was composed by OMSSA addressed to Denise Allyson Cole, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS), regarding the identified concerns as follows:
- 45%-55% of applications are being referred to the local office for processing when the original goal was to have 70% completed by the IBAU.
- The client experience is not streamlined, they are having to repeat their story many times, and turnaround time for connection to services is not happening as quickly as expected through Centralized Intake.
Many potential solutions were proposed for MCCSS consideration such as:
- Increase in resources and training at the IBAU.
- Consider assigning IBAU workers to a specific geographic location.
- Restore the Joint Project Team table to ensure clear communication between the province and local municipalities.
- Consider pausing centralized intake to evaluate and fix outstanding issues before moving forward.
- Consider simplifying the over 800 rules related to OW.
- Expand the auto-grant process to include all application types therefor alleviating all application obligations for local offices.
As a continuance of the memo shared with all Employment Ontario partners on December 1st, 2021, an updated report was shared on November 28th, 2022 identifying recipients of Ontario Works who had also received the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) at one time, up to end of November 2022. These reports will continue to be provided to Ontario Works Case Managers monthly along with information on how to connect social assistance clients with employment related services to proactively support CRB beneficiaries in their return to work.
Employment Ontario
The Employment Services (ES), Youth Job Connect (YJC) and Youth Job Connect Summer (YJCS) programs continue to be advertised and delivered from the Chapleau office.
As of December 31st, 2022:
- 12 participants enrolled in the YJCS program, 4 of which are working toward education and/or training and 8 who are now employed.
- 3 participants enrolled in the YJC program, 1 has obtained part time employment and 2 have obtained full time employment.
- 957 individuals and 31 employers were assisted by Employment Services.
Community Housing
Waiting list (Applicants)
Total applications at end of the fourth quarter is 777. The applicant breakdown is as follows:
1 Bedroom - 598
2 Bedroom - 85
3 Bedroom - 56
4 bedroom - 38
Direct Shelter Subsidy (DSS)
Staff continue to identify and complete the application process with eligible applicants for the DSS program. All applicants receiving the benefit are deemed housed. As of the end of this quarter there were 201 active DSS recipients. At the end of Q3 of this year there was 201 recipients and at this time last year there was 220.
Income Mixing
Per DSB Policy, every effort is being made where the waitlist allows, to mix the Community Housing Buildings with RGI, Affordable and Market Rent Tenants. As of the end of this quarter we have successfully secured 10 market rent tenants and 97 affordable rent tenants. This represents 3.6% and 35% of our portfolio. There is one less market rent tenant from last quarter and an increase of 3 affordable tenants. Last year at this time we had 10 market rent tenants (3.6%) and 79 affordable (28%)
Smoke Free Housing – Unit Count-down
As of the end of the 4th quarter, 200/275 of the portfolio’s units are designated as Smokefree, this represents 72% of the full portfolio. Units are designated as turn-over occurs.
Canada Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) update
COHB is a portable housing benefit designed to assist with rental costs in the private housing market. The benefit is portable throughout the province of Ontario, which allows recipients more flexibility to choose where they would like to live.
Priority groups for the benefit are:
- Persons experiencing homelessness.
- Survivors of domestic violence and humas trafficking
- Indigenous population
- Persons with disabilities
- Seniors
This benefit is available to eligible priority groups who are on, or are eligible to be on, a Centralized Waiting List for Rent Geared-to-Income subsidized housing.
COHB is a monthly financial payment equal to the difference between 30 per cent of the household’s income and the average market rent in the area. For recipients of social assistance, the COHB will provide the difference between the shelter allowance and the household’s rent and utilities costs.
The program is administered by the Province of Ontario and the benefit amount is reviewed annually. The role of Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB is to assist eligible priority households with the application process.
To the end of this quarter, the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB has assisted 44 households in successfully applying for the benefit.
By-Name-List (BNL) update
A BNL is a real-time list of all known people experiencing homelessness at a given point in time. The BNL is designed as a tool for communities to support triage to services, system performance evaluation and advocacy.
For the purposes of a BNL “homelessness” describes the situation of an individual or family with the absence of stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing or the immediate means and ability to acquire it. This can include unsheltered, emergency sheltered or provisionally accommodated (hospital, jail, residential treatment).
A BNL provides aggregate data for Service Managers and community partners to identify the needs of individuals, gaps in community services and advocate for what resources are needed to end homelessness.
The Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB has developed a BNL, and a ‘Change Team’ built of representatives from community agencies with a passion for system improvement and working together to end homelessness.
Little Current Project – New Build
The new building construction in Little Current is progressing well. This build is for 3 pods of 4 units each with a senior demographic being the target group. There are 2 – 2- bedroom units and 10 – 1-bedroom units. Both of the 2 Bedroom units are fully accessible.
The contractors are currently working on the interior of the units.
Capital Projects with Housing Services Corporation
Manitoulin
The scheduled electrical work for Little Current and Manitowaning remains delayed due to ongoing supply delays with the electrical components. Discussions with the Contractor and Engineer indicate that the components needed are becoming available. We are confident that this work will be completed in the Spring and remain viable for COCHI funding a intended.
Balcony repairs and rehabilitation in Little Current and Manitowaning are finalizing. We remain in contact with the Contractor and Engineers with regular status updates. At this time, the new concrete slabs are poured in Manitowaning, and in Little Current, the reapplication of epoxy to the rebar supports within the balcony slab has been done. There is a date to pour in mid-January in both locations which should finish up both buildings. COCHI funding in these two locations is assisting with the Capital Costs.
In Mindemoya, we continue to work with our Engineers to solve the issues discovered with the balcony replacement project. The undertaking will have to wait for warmer weather to be completed. The tenants in the building have been very cooperative throughout the season.
Sudbury East
At the Warren Community Housing site, the walkway, retaining wall and asphalt have been replaced. Outdoor lighting was repaired and upgraded.
Lacloche-Manitoulin
It was identified that two locations required roof replacements. Espanola (60 Barber) and Gore Bay (3 Water) were brought forward to begin the process so that tenders could be out for work to commence in the Spring.
We hired a consultant to determine the scope of work and prepare the necessary drawings and specifications and had a Designated Substance Survey completed to identify any asbestos or other substances requiring identification or remediation prior to the work commencing. Tendering will be done at end of January.
Work Orders
During the 4th quarter a total of 242 work orders were generated: 185 for Community Housing; 6 for Administration Offices, and 51 for Paramedic Services. There was a total of 131 work orders closed or resolved during that time. There were 6 work orders for unit turnovers; 2 family units and 4 for apartments. Work orders are closed if the work is done in-house, or when the invoice is paid from an outside source.
Summary
The DSB had a very busy quarter. If municipal Councils have any questions or would like DSB staff to attend a municipal Council meeting, please feel free to contact me directly.
Donna Stewart
Chief Administrative Officer
Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board
Phone: 705-222-0499
E mail: donna.stewart@msdsb.net
Website: www.msdsb.net