Budget - Social Services

OW Administration covers administrative and client program costs of Social Assistance such as staffing, office space, supplies, services and programs to prepare clients for referrals to local employment services. Since 2018, OW Administration funding was frozen at $5,631,200 (a combination of 100% and 50/50 funding), except for specific one-time projects approved in the year. In September 2024, the Ministry announced that Peterborough would receive an additional $156,400 in provincial funding for 2025 and future years.

The City/County cost share for OW Administration will change to 82% City/18% County in 2026, compared to 83% City/17% County in 2025, based on percentage of OW caseload in each municipality.

Ontario Works mandatory benefits are paid to clients if they meet eligibility requirements. These benefits include but are not limited to shelter, basic allowance, temporary care, diabetic and surgical supplies, medical transportation, pregnancy and nutritional allowance, and special diet. The Province continues to fund Mandatory Benefits at 100%.

Discretionary benefits cover items such as funeral, vision, dental, dentures, bus pass subsidy, prosthesis and hearing aids. Discretionary benefits funding is capped by the province at $10 per OW and ODSP case per month. Any costs above the $10 per case per month is covered 100% by the municipality. The City has contributed $235,695 annually to these costs as additional funding.

This section provides for personnel and other support costs to deliver Children’s Services for the early years and childcare programs. Programs include Fee Subsidy to eligible parents, Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) funding, operating grants to EarlyON Child and Family Centres (EO) and licensed child care, Special Needs Resource (SNR) and directly operated child care that support parents with employment, training, and parenting.

Starting January 1, 2025, the Ministry of Education changed the Canada Wide Early Learning & Child Care (CWELCC) program funding model to support the childcare system for children aged 0-5 years-old. The model moved from a revenue-replacement model to a cost-based approach and is calculated by each site. Funding is driven by benchmarks for staffing, supervisors, operations, and accommodations. It includes legacy funding for centres whose costs exceed the benchmark funding per the cost-based approach, as well as additional funding for planned growth in licensed childcare spaces and funds in lieu of profits/surplus.

The new CWELCC Cost Based Funding model has led to additional responsibilities for the Service System Manager (the City) to ensure accountability by all funded centres. The city will initiate two types of reviews on behalf of the Ministry, namely, direct engagement reports, will be done on a sample of centres and performed by a 3rd party auditor after year end is complete as well as, cost reviews, these will be performed throughout the year by city staff, in conjunction, with a third party, on select centres to ensure eligibility of expenses and work with centres to find efficiencies and reduce costs that do not compromise quality of care.
The local priorities funding allocation, for children aged 6-12 years-old, will continue to support this age group through the general operating and wage enhancement grant funding. Local priorities will support special needs resourcing, fee subsidy, capacity building and professional learning for staff supporting children ages 0-12.

In March 2025, the Early Learning Child Care (ELCC) Infrastructure Fund was introduced, to support infrastructure projects with a goal of increasing inclusion in childcare for under-served communities through the creation of new, licensed childcare spaces. The ELCC Infrastructure Fund supports not-for-profit licensed childcare centres in alignment with Ontario’s Access and Inclusion Framework and will complement the Start-up Grant program. Additional funding of $3.2M was allocated in 2025.

The new model does not impact the municipal requirements. The Ministry held municipal contributions at historical levels; therefore, total municipal investment will remain the same as 2025 levels. In 2025, the 80/20 cost sharing requirement was based on the cost-based funding allocation, previously based on local priorities funding allocation. The City/County cost share remains consistent at 68%/32% in 2026.

The change in funding model provided some additional funding for the directly operated programs, resulting in a decreased municipal contribution. The parental fees for the directly operated school aged program that serve the 6–12-year age group, will increase by 2% over 2025 fees, beginning January 1, 2025. The Ministry legislated the fees for the 0–5-year age group.

The current agreement for CWELCC ends as of March 31st, 2026, at the time of writing no further updates have been provided for funding beyond this date. Direction on parent fees and funding beyond March 31st, 2026 have not been confirmed and therefore remain unknown at this time.

As the Service System Manager for Housing and Homelessness Services in the city and county, the City’s responsibilities include funding, providing policy direction, and overseeing standards for social housing units (including both Rent Geared to Income units and Rent Supplement Units.) Social Housing is owned and managed by numerous non-profit organizations and Peterborough Housing Corporation (PHC.)

Homelessness Services has service contracts with local partners as part of a homelessness system response. The system continues to experience financial pressures related to increased demand, exponential increases in the cost of housing, low incomes, low vacancy rates, and individuals with increasingly complex social, mental health and addiction challenges. The strategic direction is towards creating permanent housing, while balancing the need for emergency responses.

The County contribution to Homelessness programs is capped at $208,250 annually.

As the housing system reaches the End of Mortgages (EOM) and the End of Operating Agreements (EOA) for several community housing providers, the City is undertaking a review of subsidy payments and developing a new funding model. The Community Housing Strategic Plan Study, completed in May 2024, identified sustainability needs related to both capital repairs and ongoing operational pressures. Council approved a draft Community Housing Strategic Framework on October 28, 2024, which will guide future investment decisions, policy direction, and financial negotiations related to the administration and contracting of community housing providers. Significant capital investment is needed across the housing portfolio, including Peterborough Housing Corporation (PHC). However, new capital investments must also be paired with corresponding operational funding to ensure units are affordable and adequately supported. This includes funding for rent supplements and service dollars to assist tenants in maintaining their housing. PHC is experiencing compounding financial pressures due to rising building operation costs, increased staffing requirements, escalating material and service expenses, growing food program deficits, and higher unit turnover and repair costs. The corporation has faced double-digit annual budget increases, reflecting inflationary and structural challenges. Like other providers, PHC is also faced with significant increases in insurance premiums, utilities, and the costs of contracted maintenance services. These pressures are increasingly drawing on capital reserve funds, posing a long-term risk to PHC's ability to finance necessary infrastructure renewal and sustain service delivery.

Provincial Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP) funding is used to expand supports through the homelessness system, including an overnight drop in shelter and the Wolfe St. modular program. This funding is committed until March 2026, but staff are expecting the funding will continue at its current levels, so the budget is assuming no change for 2026.

Due to rising cost pressures for qualitative and safe programming, increases in financial resources are needed to maintain existing shelter services in the community. For 2026, the additional shelter worker and funding for the Housing Stability Fund will provide some system improvements but the increased support does not meet the current pressures in the system. The Social Services reserve is not available to continue to fund these ongoing service needs for the homelessness programs. The reserve is heavily committed, and the remaining uncommitted balance needs to be left for emergencies as they occur.