February 10/04 Report
9:30 am in the Council Chambers

Committee members in Attendance:
Sam Merulla - Acting Chair for this meeting
Andrea Horwath - (Chair of Committee)
Tom Jackson - in 10:11am
Bill Kelly
Brian McHattie - in 10:58
Bernie Morelli
Mayor DiIanni - (ex-officio) - in 10:11 am, out 10:40

Staff:
Joe-Anne Priel, General Manager, Public Health and Community Services Department

Media:
Maggie Hughes, Eric McGuinness,

A quorum of four was not achieved until 9:47 am and Merulla who was waiting at the podium started the meeting one minute after Morelli came in.

Public Hearings:

6.1 - Sam Cino delegation on homelessness - not present

6.2 and 6.3.1 - Tom Cooper of McQueston Legal Services respecting Social Services Funding for Hamilton - presented slides titled "Hamilton's Municipal Budget, A Crisis inthe Making" to the committee describing the desperate plight of more than 100 000 people living below the poverty line in Hamilton, 70% of social assistance recipients access food banks every month, one quarter of Hamilton's children below poverty line and other statistics, giving reasons why Hamilton should be included in a "social services pooling" like that for the GTA. Hamilton is described as a magnet for social services with people from Toronto being given a startup allowance and a GO ticket and sent to Hamilton where rents are supposedly lower - a double hit for Hamilton which receives no "pooling money". (See Maggie Hughes article in View February 19, p.7 "Nowhere Left For the Poor to Turn" partly based on data presented by Cooper at several city venues - eg. Toronto residents' per capita tax bill for social services is $244 while Hamilton's is $550. The mayor used much of this data in his presentation to the public budget meeting in Dundas Monday night - February 16). Cooper also spoke of the unfair financial burden to the city and recommended that social services be removed from the property tax base; the hidden threat that because of the downloaded costs Hamilton will not be able to cope with other crises such as a Stelco collapse; Mcguinty has rejected pooling so far;
Councillors did not wait for Cooper to finish before asking questions - Merulla - a question to Joe-Anne priel - do we know the numbers attracted to Hamilton? - Priel - not a huge net gain for Hamilton because people move out of Hamilton as well.
Merulla - (couldn't hear him because he turned away from the microphone to address Priel; Priel - the reality is that people cannot afford Toronto; they are sent here to prevent them from becoming homeless.
Horwath - homecare is less than 480 and the service is being phased out; the city is getting out of that business ... should be a provincial service. Priel - 329 people, capped intake, leaves 80% of dollars in the community (I think this means that if the city cancels a non-mandated service eg. Cooper mentioned Residential Care Facilities - that it pays 20% of and the province pays 80% of, then the city loses that 80% provincial money or the city loses $4 for every $1 of service it cuts). Horwath - CCAC (Community Care Access Centre) needs to be more flexible and not fall off the table; (cuts) may be a fiscal solution but not a community solution.
Merulla asked Priel for list of ... (couldn't hear him again); Priel said she has a list of mandated and non-mandated services to give to council.
McHattie - question for the Mayor who had entered at 10:11 am - asked the mayor about progress in the social services pooling requests of the province; can interested parties like Tom, councillors and others, speak to the province? DiIanni - we need a "full court press" - he has made presentations to Premier McGuinty and MPP's and to the Association of Large Municipalities of Ontario: Mayor Miller of Toronto didn't know about (the) Hamilton (situation); there is budget consciousness in Hamilton with Tom (Cooper), businesses, labour - a political push is being made; has spoken to (MPP and cabinet minister) Dr. Bountrogianni; local MPP's must push for fairer treatment for Hamilton.
McHattie - regarding Cooper's letter - (a letter campaign - addressed to area MPP's and asking them to bring Hamilton's concerns to the Premier - "Hamilton Needs Help") - maybe the City (of Hamilton) should be on (officially) the letter; should there be coordinated of efforts? DiIanni - there should be a "Hamilton Day" at Queen's Park.
Merulla asked about the probability of the provincial government budging on this issue; DiIanni - there has not been a yes answer yet nor a no answer; there needs to be a coordinated push at provincial consultations.
Kelly - felt frustrated - if there are non-mandated services then we shouldn't do them; the province didn't care; it (province) dropped the ball in the first place; public pressure is needed and not just to council; the reason that Toronto got pooling in the first place was amalgamation - because it was realized (by the province) that social services (costs) would have bankrupted Toronto; social services costs are high and this is not understood by the public; the system is wrong and only the province can fix it; social services and housing should not be on the property tax; public discourse is needed to push the political process.
Merulla - when is the city's budget (brought down)? DiIanni - at the end of March; out of sync with the Province; the immediate issue is a community push and an MPP push (needed)
Morelli - there was a poor turnout at the budget community meeting (he) attended (in his ward I think); a need to mobilize people but this is difficult if they are not turning out. DiIanni - was at a meeting last night - 500 total in meetings so far - not bad; the kind of input from the people so far is consistent concern for 1. levels of taxation and 2. quality of life; we're looking for a mobilization of the will of the people.
McHattie - back to HSR - a reported 15 cent increase in the Spectator; how will this affect social services? He referred to a previous S & PH meeting (see Catch Report, January 13) report by SPRC that HSR service levels affects employment support. Priel - 5 cents does have an impact; a $1.50 per week increase has an impact on the very poor; she promised to follow up with Don Hall of HSR.
Tom completed his presentation and the mayor left during it at 10:40 am.
6.3.2 Henry Aviles from Housing Help Centre presented for Lance Dingman - Coalition of Residential Care Facility Tenants (received a copy - there was an appeal not to cut beds and a request to raise the personal needs allowance from $112 to $160).
Horwath - asked Priel a number of questions about residential care facilities - what is availability of beds so residents can move around; what is the waiting time for a bed? - Priel - 2 months; out of 1100 licenced beds, 869 are subsidized; Horwath - we must be clear what we want - should increase the personal allowance to $160/month; Priel - provincial mental health task force report has recommendations that the province has not acted on; residential care is part of the provincial health care system; shouldn't be Hamilton's responsibility; Horwath - (need to be) reviewing our residential care facility bylaws to see if people are getting the quality of life they deserve - well run homes is what is needed!
Merulla called for a motion (I think) and Horwath made a motion (don't know who seconded) for a staff review report to be brought back - carried (unanimously I think)
Merulla engaged another staff person with some questions regarding where people come from to live in care facilities; answer - jail, other residential homes; where do people go if no space? Answer - emergency shelters, hotels, sometimes don't know (the street)
Priel - 869 bed cap, OW pays for some; it would require $1.6 million if 1100 beds were used and this is beyond the city's ability to pay.
Henry Aviles - a new by-law (regarding how residents are treated) would be good - but who is enforcing?

6.3.3 - Ms. Carol-Ann Nelson - Tenant Advisory Committee and Campaign for Adequate Welfare & Disability Benefits - (received a copy) - spoke of reinstating rent controls, remove residential care facil. cap of 869, bring facilities and homes standards up like restaurants, discrimination a difficult issue, tenant education, a brochure on housing issues in Hamilton needed; problems of disabilities and illiteracy block people's access to services, control/advocacy by 2year degree social workers shouldn't happen - eg. must get permissionfrom social worker to go to doctor, special problems of rural residents on social asst. with homecare
*Behaviour - Morelli and Merulla were talking about one minute while Ms. Nelson was presenting.
Kelly left before 11:10 am. leaving basic quorum of four.
Horwath - motion for resolution on bylaw - correct inequity of funding for licenced and full funding for residential beds (could not hear); seconded Merulla, carried (unan. I think)

Additional delegations:
1. Lenore Lukasik and Colleen Foss from Sexual Assault Centre - 4800 women served, some anecdotal testimonies, asking the city to continue to support.
Jackson - commended the Centre and staff for their work and mentioned that his mother volunteered for Inasmuch House
Morelli - also commended them and commented on the size of the problem of abuse, we don't have the finances - need a better way to deliver; "we need your help" .
2. Claire Freeman from Social Action Committee of Association of Social Services and Executive Director of Interval House Women's Shelter - (there was a handout - Jane Evans may have) inclusion, effects of downloading from government to government, downloading even to volunteer agencies (who don't have resources), anecdotal impacts on women and children forced into shelters and subsidized housing where they don't want to be; lack of full provincial funding for shelters
Morelli and Jackson made comments about how bad abuse is to women - even internationally.
Horwath - motion for resolution that provincial support be restored for homemaking, CCAC, Residential Care personal needs allowance to be raised to $160/month, emergency shelters ... (couldn't hear all); seconded Jackson, carried (unanimously)
Priel had a binder distributed to councillors only - Social Welfare Vision, contained mandatory vs. Non-mandatory services
Adjournment just after 11:30 am