2025 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 has been frozen (less $1.6 million reduction that occurred with the move to becoming an Employment Services Transformation prototype municipality), 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.

The City/County cost share for OW Administration will remain at 83%/17%, based on percentage of 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. For 2025, the city has removed the municipal-only contribution of $235,696, no longer supplementing the provincial funding.

On August 1, 2024, the Ministry of Education released the new Canada Wide Early Learning & Child Care (CWELCC) program funding model to support the childcare system for children aged 0-5 years. The new model is a significant change from the current way the 0-5-year age group is funded. The model has moved to a cost-based approach from a revenue-replacement model and will be calculated by each site. Funding is driven by benchmarks for staffing, supervisors, operations, and accommodations. It also includes legacy funding for centres whose costs exceed the funding provided by the cost-based approach and extra funding for growth in licensed spaces and funds in lieu of surplus.

There is a heavy emphasis on ensuring that CWELCC is only funding eligible costs, and this leads 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. Direct Engagement Reports will be done on a sample of centres and performed by a 3rd party auditor after year end is complete. Cost reviews will be performed throughout the year by city staff 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.

For children aged 6-12, there will be a Local Priorities allocation that will continue to support this age group with general operating grant and wage enhancement. Local priorities will also support Special Needs Resourcing, Fee Subsidy, capacity building and workforce strategy for ages 0-12. The guidelines for local priorities have not been released as of the date of writing.

The new model is not expected to impact the municipal requirements. The Ministry is expecting municipal contributions to remain at historical levels, so total municipal investment will remain the same as 2024 levels. There will be a slight change in the city and county cost shares as the licensed spaces have changed. The City/County cost share is shifting from 67%/33% in 2024 to 68%/32% in 2025.

The change in funding model is providing 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 2024 fees, beginning January 1, 2025. The Ministry will be legislating the fees for the 0-5-year age group.

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.
In 2023, $18,931,121 in CMHC Rapid Housing Initiative Funding was approved for 681 Monaghan Rd. 53 affordable units will be built. All units will have a rent supplement attached in order to bridge rents to increase the affordability. This build is scheduled for completion and occupancy in early 2025.

Subsidy payments to community housing providers will be reviewed and a new funding model will be developed as we reach the end of mortgages (EOM) and end of operating agreements (EOA). The Community Housing Strategic Plan Study was completed in 2024 to recommend sustainability needs for capital requirements and operational pressures within the system. A draft local strategic framework has been developed and will be presented for approval.

As of April 1, 2022, provincial homelessness funding was consolidated under the Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP). The funding allocation was increased for the 2023/24 fiscal year by $2,493,300 for a total of $7,657,600 and is expected to stay at that level through to March 31, 2026. The funds were used to support homelessness initiatives, which focused on the Wolfe St. Modular Bridge Housing program. This program successfully housed 50 clients in individual units, with 24/7 supports. HPP funding was also used to create an additional drop in shelter, with winter months overnight response and daily drop in programming.

Due to rising cost pressures for qualitative and safe programming, increases in financial resources are needed to maintain existing shelter services in the community.

Housing and Homelessness Services has requested a new staff position not included in the budget. This request can be found in Section 4 Staffing Requests not included in the Draft 2025 Budget.