Community Services and Housing Department

Environmental Scan

Community Services and Housing will focus on the following objectives:

Building Strategic Partnerships to Enhance Accessibility to Programs and Services:

• Consult with community agencies, disability organizations and other Regional departments to explore opportunities to provide greater accessibility to our clients and customers with a range of disabilities.

Education and Outreach to Address Attitudinal Barriers

• Provide tools, information and training to staff to increase awareness, and assist with the identification and development of solutions for York Region citizens with disabilities.

Addressing Information and Communications Barriers

• Work to remove barriers to information regarding services and programs and to increase and manage information for persons with disabilities.

Enhancing Accessibility to Facilities to Address Physical Barriers

• Work to make specific services and programs more physically accessible to persons with disabilities.

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Our Customers

Housing Services Branch

The Housing Services Branch directly manages 1927 social housing units through the operations of Housing York Inc. The Branch also administers 4051 social housing units through independent non-profit and co-operative housing providers. The Branch is also responsible for increasing the supply of affordable housing including the creation of new accessible units. The Region supports and funds a range of homelessness and prevention support programs in partnership with community agencies.

The demographics of our customers vary widely. We serve:

• People of all ages, including children, youth, and seniors who are elderly and fragile.
• People with diverse cultural backgrounds, many of whom are new to the country and have a mother tongue other than English.
• Households in financial need.
• Households in receipt of Ontario Works payments, Ontario Disability Support Program payments, Old Age Pensions, Disability Pensions, etc.
• People facing a wide range of physical barriers.
• Households headed by those who have been victims of domestic violence.
• Households who require integrated community support services.

The needs of our customers are for housing that is:

• Affordable
• Safe and secure
• Appropriate in size and physical form
• Integrated with community support services

Assistance for our clients with disabilities includes:

• Providing a minimum of 326 accessible housing units in York Region.
• Incorporating barrier-reduced design into new housing development.
• Seeking instances where retro fitting of existing properties can accommodate a wider range of clients who face physical barriers in their housing.
• Providing information to allow clients to better determine if available housing matches their need for barrier reduced accommodation.
• Liaising with community agencies that provide households with community support services.
• Evaluating and responding to future Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) regulations.

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Employment and Financial Support Branch

The Employment and Financial Support Branch provides employment and financial assistance to approximately 8800 residents annually (including adults and children). This comprises approximately 4700 family units.

The demographics of our customers vary widely. We serve:

• Persons in financial need, including those who are homeless.
• Persons of all ages, including children, youth and seniors.
• Persons with diverse cultural and religious backgrounds.
• Persons in receipt of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
• Persons with a broad range of physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities.

The needs of our customers are:

• Financial assistance for food, shelter, and additional expenses.
• Employment assistance that supports participants in accessing and maintaining jobs.

Assistance for our clients with disabilities includes:

Financial assistance:

• All Ontario Works recipients receive an Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) card with their monthly social assistance cheque. The ODB card covers the costs of all prescription medications listed on the drug formulary.
• Ontario Works and ODSP recipients with disabilities may be eligible to receive assistance with the cost of health-related items such as:
• Mobility aids (i.e. walkers)
• Foot orthotics
• Vision and dental care
• Prosthetic devices (i.e. hearing aids)
• Home repairs or renovations
  (i.e. addition of ramps, grab bars in the shower)
• Wheelchair repairs and batteries
• Other eligible items as defined in policy

Employment Assistance:

• Ontario Works currently maintains a link with a range of agencies to assist persons with disabilities to prepare for employment.
• Persons with learning disorders have access to literacy and numeracy programs through Ontario Works referrals to community agencies.
• Employment workshops, delivered at local Ontario Works offices, are physically accessible for persons with disabilities and mobility issues.
• One-on-one employment counselling is offered at all local Ontario Works offices to assist participants in developing strategies to manage disability-related barriers to employment.
• Evaluating and responding to future AODA regulations pertaining to program and employment services will be a key focus of our service planning.

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Family and Children's Services Branch

The Family and Children's Services Branch provides financial assistance and/or direct developmental programming to approximately 5935 York Region children from birth to 12 years annually and 300 eligible adults residing in domiciliary hostels. This comprises approximately 4344 family units.

The demographics of our customers vary widely. We serve:

• Children from birth to 12 years of age.
• Families with diverse cultural and religious backgrounds.
• Families with an assessed financial need.
• Eligible adults residing in domiciliary hostels.
• Children with a broad range of diagnosed and undiagnosed physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities.
• Licensed child care centres with children with special needs enrolled.
• Agencies delivering programs for children and families under the Day Nurseries Act, the Ontario Works Act, and the Lodging House By-Law.

The needs of our customers are:

• Financial assistance for child care and recreational costs, and enhanced inclusion support for children with exceptional special needs.
• Developmental programming to assist in the development of children with special needs and their inclusion into licensed child care centres and community settings.
• Information, intake, and access to programs and services in York Region.
• Financial assistance for domiciliary hostel costs.

Our customers can access our programs by calling a toll free line 1-800-703-KIDS (5437).

All requests for information, intake, and access for the following programs are accessed by calling the toll free 1-800-703-KIDS (5437) line:

• Child Care Fee Assistance
• Early Intervention Programs
• Preschool Speech and Language Program
• Tri-Regional Infant Hearing Program
• Child Care Support Line including a Child Care Translation Language Telephone line
• Summer Camp Fee Assistance

The Branch administers:

• Child care fee assistance for families with an assessed financial need with children enrolled in licensed child care, including those with special needs.
• Wage subsidy to enhance staff salaries within licensed child care programs.
• Enhanced funding to provide inclusion supports to children with exceptional special needs in licensed child care programs.

The Branch provides direct service delivery for developmental programming:

• Early Intervention Services (EIS) provides:
• Developmental programming and consultative supports for children with special needs in their homes, child care centres, community settings, and EIS offices.
• Occupational and Physio-therapy consultative services.
  The Branch manages the funding and program relationships with:
• Speech Language Pathology services through a contract with Markham Stouffville Hospital.
• In-home mobility, orientation and developmental supports through a contract with Ontario Foundation for Visually Impaired Children.
• Seating and orthotic clinic equipment support for children with physical disabilities through a contract with Southlake Regional Hospital.
• All our Kids (AOK) Early Child Development and Parenting Programs.

The Branch manages the domiciliary hostel program through:

• Administering per diem agreements with domiciliary hostel operators for domiciliary hostel beds.
• Responsibility for licensing domiciliary hostels under the Lodging House By-Law.
• Monitoring compliance under the by-law and per diem agreements.

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Business Operations and Support Services Branch

The Business Operations and Support Services Branch delivers direct and support services through its six program teams:

• Family Support Team - assists clients in pursuing support income.
• Eligibility Review Team - investigates and collects revenues owed to the Region.
• Learning and Development Team - knowledge and skills training for all staff.
• Contact Centre Team - 'First Call' services that provides callers with information, referral, and application services.
• Accounting and Business Services Team - ensures the Department's fiscal integrity.
• Administrative Services and Technology Support Team - delivers accommodation services and standard practices and provides expert technology support for program applications.

Our customers are residents of York Region, Community Services and Housing Department clients, staff, service providers, and vendors.

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Policy and Program Support Services Branch

The Policy and Program Support Services Branch provides support to the Department, the corporation, and Regional Council through the provision of strategic policy analysis and program development services.

The Branch also:

• manages departmental emergency preparedness and business continuity planning;
• provides program communications services;
• produces YorkLink;
• co-ordinates the Region's ODA Accessibility Planning process and supports the implementation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA);
• manages community investment, planning and program evaluation activities; and
• provides data and research for the Community Social Data which is an online resource.

Our customers are primarily the Community Services and Housing Department, the corporation, community service agencies and the York Region Accessibility Advisory Committee.

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Accessibility Statement

The Community Services and Housing Department will continue to move toward enhancing the accessibility of our programs and services through building strategic community and regional partnerships and by increasing our awareness of the needs of persons with both visible and invisible disabilities, so that we can better respond to those needs. After three years of accessibility planning under the ODA, the Department continues to consider accessibility planning as a key component when reviewing, improving and developing its programs and services. In 2007, branches will work together to identify, remove and prevent barriers in our programs and services.

Progress Report on Accessibility Achievements - 2006

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Barrier Identification for 2007

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Barriers That Will Be Addressed for 2007

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Barriers That Will Be Addressed for 2007

(1) Gives a description of the barrier and indicates where the barrier was found. For example was the barrier in a program, service, by-law, policy, practice and facility.
(2) Indicates the type(s) of barrier (physical, architectural, informational, communicational, attitudinal, technological, policy/practice).
(3) Indicates the type(s) of disability affected by the barrier (physical, sensory, cognitive or other)
(4) Describes the action taken to identify, remove or prevent the barrier.
(5) The timing for addressing a barrier does not necessarily have to be set within 2007. The nature of the action may be phased in over a number of months or years depending on the resources and priorities of the Department.
(8) Indicate where the barrier was found. For example: was it in a program, service, by-law, policy or facility?
(9) Indicate where the barrier type (physical, architectural, informational, communicational, attitudinal,
technological, policy/practice).
(10) Indicates the type of disability affected by the barrier (physical, sensory, cognitive or other).
(11) Indicate how accessibility will be enhanced by removing or preventing this barrier.
(12) Describe what action will be taken to remove and/or prevent the barrier.
(13) Indicate how customer service will be improved by removing or preventing this barrier. Also indicate any other measure(s) that will be used to determine whether or not the Department was successful in removing/preventing this barrier.
(14) The timing for addressing a barrier does not necessarily have to be set within 2007; the nature of the action may be phased in over a number of months or years depending on the resources and priorities of the department.