Bradford can help with an ever-growing demand both locally and across the county.
That was the message from Claudine Cousins, chief executive officer of Empower Simcoe, who stressed the need for both services and funding to support people living with intellectual disabilities, as part of a presentation during the Nov. 5 regular council meeting.
“The demand for services for people with disabilities have only escalated over the number of years since the (COVID-19) pandemic,” she said.
As an example, Cousins said over the last year within the County of Simcoe 14 group home spaces became available for those with disabilities, but 1,370 have been requested.
“There’s a huge disparity there,” she said.
To that end, Empower Simcoe is calling on the provincial government to earmark 10 per cent of National Housing Strategy funding for housing for individuals with developmental disabilities, as Cousins noted their funding from the upper levels of government isn’t indexed to inflation.
“Every dollar we get, gets eroded year by year,” she said. “The shortfall is there.”
As a result, Empower Simcoe announced the closure of two group homes this summer.
Both Mayor James Leduc and Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu said upper levels of government need to maintain funding for the organization’s “very important” services, which they supported as part of county council.
“It’s difficult to see some of the numbers you’re presenting tonight,” Leduc said.
The organization is also calling on municipalities to commit to the “critical need,” and while Cousins didn’t request funding from the town, she explained how partnering with the non-profit can help open the door to loans from the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) at lower interest rates.
“We want to be part of the solution on housing,” she said.
Municipalities can also help the organization by addressing “pesky little things” like zoning bylaws to encourage building more inclusive homes, according to Cousins.
While she didn’t point to any specific provision within Bradford’s zoning bylaw, Cousins said many municipalities limit where and how group homes can be created, as well as the number of people who can live in them, even though there are usually fewer restrictions for those without disabilities.
“Those types of rules, we feel, are not fair and borders on the line of discrimination,” she said.
Cousins also explained it’s best to have group homes integrated throughout the community and cautioned against concentrating them in specific areas, as that could lead to “ghettoization.”
Geoff McKnight, the town’s chief administrative officer, said to the best of his knowledge, Bradford doesn’t have those specific zoning issues for group homes, but acknowledged that, historically, zoning regulations were used in a “discriminatory” nature, and there could still be elements of that “woven into” the bylaw.
The town’s community planning team is already looking into a review of the zoning bylaw, according to the mayor, who acknowledged there’s more the town can do.
“We will do what we can as a community and look at some opportunities to be a partner with you,” he said.
Stats included in the presentation further illustrated that requests to Developmental Services Ontario (DSO) far outpace the spaces currently available in Simcoe County.
For example, 822 requests for supported independent living compared to 19 spaces available, 2,253 requests for community participation support compared to 67 spaces available and 1,659 requests for respite care compared to just two spaces currently available.
According to the presentation, there are 14,000 people with intellectual disabilities in Ontario on a waiting list for non-municipal services with an average wait time of 40 years.
Bradford resident and advocate Daniela Pethick lives with a developmental disability and is no stranger to the long wait for services, as she is still waiting for a spot in a group home after applying to DSO in late 2013.
“Sometimes it’s easy to deal with; sometimes it isn’t,” she told BradfordToday earlier this year. “Sometimes I want to cry. Sometimes I just want a hug. Sometimes I just want to be around people.”
While Pethick is still living with her parents, she recently said she’s been achieving more independence with help from family, friends and her partner, and is currently enrolled in the library information technology course at Seneca College at York University.
Earlier this year, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services — which is responsible for funding supportive housing and DSO, and also partially funds Empower Simcoe — didn’t directly answer questions about average wait times or the number of people currently on wait lists, but said that eligible adults are prioritized based on individual risk and the availability of services.
Empower Simcoe has been supporting people with intellectual disabilities since 1953. The non-profit organization currently offers more than 19 programs and services — from early childhood programs to community living and comprehensive housing support — to more than 1,700 people, with more than 43 residential sites in more than 16 communities, including Barrie, Orillia, Bradford and surrounding areas.
Funding for the organization comes from various sources including the ministry, the county, United Way, and the Empower Simcoe Foundation.
More information about Empower Simcoe is available at empowersimcoe.ca.
