About Community Services and Housing

The Community Services and Housing Department is made up of five branches:

The Family and Children's Services Branch:

• Helps eligible families with child care costs
• Provides services and support for children with special needs
• Delivers family-strengthening programs
• Manages the Kids Line, a phone-in support line that provides families with information about child care programs in York Region
• Helps eligible domiciliary hostel residents with board, lodging, and personal needs costs
• Manages the Ontario Child Care Management System
• Provides wage subsidy and wage improvement for staff in licensed child care programs.

• Provides financial assistance and employment assistance through the Ontario Works program
• Provides services for employers looking for qualified employees, and services for organizations in need of volunteers
• Helps eligible residents with the costs of homemaker and nurses services
• Provides financial assistance for eligible residents of transition homes and emergency hostels.

• Provides support to the Department, the Corporation and Regional Council through the provision of strategic policy analysis and program development services
• Is the corporate lead for the implementation of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act ("AODA")
• Manages departmental emergency preparedness and business continuity planning
• Provides program communications services
• Produces YorkLink, York Region's community services directory
• Manages community investment, planning and program evaluation activities.

• Ensures fiscal and administrative integrity within the Department
• Delivers quality assurance functions to all Department program areas
• Manages the Department's administrative practices
• Delivers staff training
• Provides program technology support to the Department's three principal data management systems.