FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no financial implications associated with this report.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Attachment 1 – 2006 Annual Report of the Health and Social Services Advisory Committee
Attachment 2 – Proposed 2007 Workplan of the Health and Social Services Advisory Committee
Attachment 3 – Health and Social Services Advisory Committee Terms of Reference
DISPOSITION
Given that no funding has been approved for advisory committee workplan items, the HSSAC will endeavour to hold a housing forum and a women’s forum, if practicable, as part of the agenda for two of its regularly scheduled meetings.
City Clerk’s Branch staff will forward the recommendations approved by the Community and Protective Services Committee to City Council for ratification.
Attachment 1
2006 Annual Report
Health and Social services Advisory Committee
Preamble
Over the
past year, the Health and Social Services Advisory Committee has discussed
matters relative to its mandate, intervened on issues relative to its mandate,
received public delegations and staff presentations, and has made
recommendations to City Council. As
part of its 2006 Work Plan, with the objective of providing a forum for citizens to express their
views related to health and social services so that the committee could develop
a better understanding of community concerns and make recommendations to
Council to address these concerns, the committee scheduled two of its meetings
off-site, one at the Good Companions Centre and one at
1 Community Place.
Accomplishments and Ongoing Objectives
The Health and
Social Services Advisory Committee would like to highlight their accomplishments,
involvement and on-going objectives in 2006:
Health and Service Delivery
§
received a presentation from the Medical Officer of
Health in June on the City of Ottawa’s 2006
Health Status Report; review of the document is on-going and comments are
being prepared for submission to the Community and Protective Services
Committee and Council in 2007
§
on-going review of the City’s 2005 Annual Report; the committee approved a motion in December
calling for improvements to the City’s future annual reports
§
reviewed the draft Integrated
Health Services Plan for the Champlain Region of the Local Health Integration
Network (LHIN); invited the Champlain LHIN to make a presentation in
October (to be followed up in early
2007); provided feedback to the Champlain LHIN via letters in November and
December 2006
§
received a presentation on the status of Ottawa’s Integrated Road Safety Program in
December
§
invited and received presentations in May from various seniors’ associations on gaps
they feel need to be addressed; on-going discussions with the Seniors Advisory
Committee
§
received a presentation in February from the Medical
Officer of Health on the Public Health
Capacity Review being conducted by the province; the committee approved a motion on that review on
August 29, 2006, which has been relayed to staff for consideration and
inclusion in the upcoming report to the Health, Recreation and Social Services
Committee on that subject
§
requested
to staff that the HSSAC be included in the development of the stakeholder engagement
strategy for the Integrated Drugs and
Addictions Strategy Community Network
§
attended a staff presentation in October on the health and social services needs of rapidly
growing communities and provided feedback
§
received a staff presentation in May on changes to the Ontario
Disability Support Program
Review; made recommendations to Committee and Council
on the benefit rates for those in the ODSP and the Ontario Works (OW) program
and agreed to add this issue to the 2007 HSSAC work plan
§
made recommendation to Committee in Council in
April with respect to the Special Diet
Allowance for those on ODSP and OW
§
received
a pubic delegation in October on asset
levels for the Essential
Health and Social Supports program and the Home Help program; follow-up discussions
lead to a decision by the committee to express support during 2007 budget
deliberations for the increase being recommended by the Health, Recreation and
Social Services Committee
§
appointed a committee representative to
participate on the 2006 Community
Project Funding Allocations Committee
Early Childhood Development and Women’s Issues
§
received a presentation in January from the Better Child Care Education and Toronto First
Duty,
providing an overview of research that has taken place, both at the Provincial
and Federal levels, comparing non-profit versus for profit child care providers
§
met
with the Deputy City Manager of Community and Protective Services to discuss child care centres and the housing development protocol for the City of Vancouver in an attempt
to build support and collaboration to have the City develop a
housing policy that new housing developments to be required to include a
non-profit child care center
§
received a staff presentation in April on the City for All Women Initiative (CAWI);
on-going support of CAWI in having gender equality/diversity planning framework
implemented across all City departments; the committee submitted comments to
the Manager of Council and Committee Services for the 2006-2010 Council
Governance review
§
received a staff report in February on the impact of
school fees on low income families and sent a letter of support to Council
for the recommendations of the Health, Recreation and Social Services
Committee, contained therein
Housing
§ received a staff presentation in February on the proposed Comprehensive Zoning By-law and provided comments; attended a follow-up consultation session with staff in September
§
conducted
regular environmental scanning to monitor current
and emerging policy developments, activities, and issues as they pertain to
homelessness, affordable housing and sustainable communities, and to take
appropriate action
§
provided comments to Committee and Council with
regard to the Homelessness and Safe
Streets Act – Task Force Recommendations in April and May
§
held discussions on the City’s Neighbourhood Planning Initiative and
received a presentation from the local non-profit organization known as
Creative Neighbourhoods in October
§
performed an
on-going review of the redevelopment of the Rockcliffe Base; including reviewing the Canada Lands
Company’s draft Terms of Reference for the community design plan for Rockcliffe
Base; attending a public open house; attending two affordable housing meetings
§
regularly monitored
the governance of the Ottawa Community
Housing Corporation; a request for an information presentation to the HSSAC
by staff of the OCHC was rejected. Preparing for upcoming review of governance
structure in the New Year
§ completed preliminary planning and developed proposal for upcoming housing forum projected for late spring 2007
§ received staff presentations and information in April and June on the City’s review of Day Programs (defined as a safe place to access programs and services for people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of losing their housing) and provided comments
§
received a staff presentation on the City’s proposed housing strategy in May
and provided comments; review of the plan is on-going
§ monitored the progress of the City of Ottawa’s proposed Density Incentives
Youth Engagement with the City of Ottawa
§
received a presentation in June from Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa (CAYFO)
on youth engagement in the city; providing on-going support for youth
initiatives
Attachment 2
HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
WORKPLAN 2007
Activity
1: Conduct at least two
committee meetings in the community during the year
Activity 2: Review proposed 2007 Ottawa City Budget and provide comments to the Community and Protective Services Committee (CPSC)
Activity 3: Review the City of Ottawa's 2006 Annual Report and provide comments to the CPSC on measurement of performance indicators
Activity 4: Work
collaboratively with other advisory committees and organizations concerned with health and social
service issues
Activity 5: Continue to support youth initiatives and needs in the city
Objective 2- To
provide advice related to improving the delivery of health care and social
services
Activity 1: Receive a presentation from the Social Planning Council on perceived impacts of changing demographics and diversity on health and social service delivery
Activity 2: Monitor the implementation and impact of Community and Protective Services Strategic Framework as it applies to health and social services (i.e., children's agenda, neighbourhood planning, housing, physical activity strategy, working city/employment, successful aging, community capacity building: homelessness) and provide recommendations to the CPSC
Activity 3: Monitor the implementation of the Local Health Integration Network strategy
Activity 4: Monitor the City's and the province's response to the Public Health Capacity Review
Activity 5: Follow up on impact of changes to the food supplement under the Ontario Disability Support Program and seek client and community feedback on the financial, social and other impacts of changes to the ODSP
Activity 6: Monitor the evaluation of the JobsNow employment program
Activity 7: Provide comments on the City of Ottawa’s 2006 and 2007 Health Status Report
Objective 3– To
continue to explore how the city can generate capital funding to support
expansion and facilities maintenance in the non-profit child care sector
Activity 1: Continue to meet with the Deputy City Manager of Community and Protective Services and the Manager of Children's Services to move this objective forward and to explore how current vacant City buildings could be redeveloped as non-profit childcare centres
Activity 2: Work with the City to pursue criteria for housing development projects that would require construction of non-profit day care facilities in housing developments
Objective 4: Ensure the Mayor and new City Council
members are aware of the issues that impact women in the city
Activity 1: Hold
a Women’s Forum and invite a diverse range of women and women’s organizations /
agencies that provide services to make presentations about the issues women in
the city of Ottawa are facing
Objective 5 – To promote
the provision of affordable housing to meet the needs of low-income households
and the homeless, and to promote the development of sustainable and inclusive
communities
Activity 1: To monitor four key activities as follows:
§ City Housing Strategy
§ City Neighbourhood Planning Initiative
§ Rockcliffe Heights Development
§
Ottawa Community Housing Corporation governance
structure
Activity 2: To design and present a public forum or panel discussion to explore housing within communities and associated interventions that better enable housing maintenance and community development, in order to identify opportunities and challenges for the City to support strong housing outcomes
Activity 3: Through regular environmental scanning, to monitor current and emerging policy developments, activities, and issues as they pertain to homelessness, affordable housing and sustainable communities, and to take appropriate action. These may include amendments to the Social Housing Reform Act, the City’s Density Incentive Guidelines, and the City’s recently proposed Comprehensive Zoning By-law, and other issues pertaining to social housing