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March 11, 1998
To: Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee
From: Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services
Subject: Municipal Support Services to Seniors and People with Mobility Limitations in the City of Toronto
Purpose:
This report provides an overview of the support services the City of Toronto provides and/or funds to enable senior citizens and citizens with mobility limitations to continue to maintain residency within the community.
Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
There are no funding implications for the City of Toronto.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(1) this report be forwarded to the Task Force on Developing a Strategy for Issues Concerning the Elderly for consideration in the development of a seniors = strategy; and
(2) the appropriate City officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.
Council Reference/Background History:
At the January 15, 1998 meeting of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, presentations on programs and services falling under the responsibilities of the Committee were made by senior staff. These included presentations on the program supports to seniors from Homes for the Aged, the Housing Company, as well as grants to community agencies that support seniors in the community. The Committee requested that the Commissioner report back to the March 26, 1998 meeting of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee on the cost of providing home support services to seniors and people with disabilities, including program areas such as snow removal and gardening. This report is submitted in response to that request.
Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:
A number of support programs are provided and funded by the City to address the maintenance of physical surroundings and personal health needs of aging residents and people with mobility limitations. Together they strengthen the quality of life and promote the social health of these residents.
This report supplements the information presented by senior staff at the first Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee meeting, and brings attention to the programs that enable senior citizens and people with mobility limitations to retain residency within the community. These involve the program areas of home support services, snowshovelling and grasscutting, home improvement and transportation, specifically the Wheel-Trans program.
Community Support Services:
All seven former municipalities that have amalgamated to form the new City of Toronto provided grants to community organizations for a range of support programs to seniors and people with mobility limitations. Home support covers a wide range of services which includes home help, home maintenance, friendly visiting, meals on wheels, congregate dining, telephone reassurance, transportation, security checks, supportive housing, respite care, adult day services, homemaking, personal grooming, escort service, outdoor work and gardening.
In 1997 approximately $300,000.00 was granted by the six former area municipalities to 40 community-based organizations to provide services to seniors and people with disabilities. Because of the difficulty in separating home support funding from social recreational funding for elderly persons = centres, this funding reflects monies for both program areas. The former Metropolitan Toronto provided approximately $3.1 million in grants funding ($1.2 million for elderly persons= centres and almost $1.9 million to home support) in 1997 to 83 community organizations across the City of Toronto. Total municipal funding for all community-based seniors= programs, therefore, amounted to over $3.4 million to 93 organizations across Toronto in 1997.
Homemakers and Nurses Services Program:
The City of Toronto administers the Homemakers and Nurses Services Program (H.M.N.S.) through the Homes for the Aged Division. The purpose of the program is to support residents to remain at home, preventing premature institutionalization and family break-up. H.M.N.S. purchases homemaker services such as shopping, meal preparation and light housekeeping on behalf of elderly and disabled clients who require both financial assistance and assistance with their activities of daily living. The program works on a brokerage model and currently contracts with 14 agencies at a fixed cost per unit of service. These agencies include a mix of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
The H.M.N.S. program operates under the authority of the Homemakers and Nurses Services Act. The program is discretionary and is cost-shared on an 80:20 basis by the Province and City, respectively. The 1997 H.M.N.S. gross budget was almost $4.3 million.
Fifty percent of H.M.N.S. clients are elderly, while the remaining fifty percent are under 65 years of age and experience a physical disability, chronic illness, stable psychiatric disorder or are single-parent families in crisis. Service volumes have remained fairly constant over the past five years, however, in 1997 there were 19,272 cases/clients, indicating an increase of 3 percent over the previous year =s total. Demand for the program continues to increase due to recent changes in the Long Term Care system.
Snowshovelling/Grasscutting Supports to Seniors and People with Disabilities:
Snowshovelling and grasscutting services to seniors and people with disabilities are primarily coordinated by community-based organizations and funded by the City =s Works or Parks and Recreation Departments with dedicated monies devoted to these services. Appendix I provides an outline of these program areas. The former City of Toronto is not listed in the Appendix as it did not dedicate money to these support services. There is also no dedicated money for grasscutting in the York and East York areas.
However, there are a number of community-based organizations that receive funding through the Ministry of Health and/or the former municipalities to provide snowshovelling and grasscutting or outdoor work in the general pot of money that is provided through the home support funding program through the long-term care system. These supports supplement those areas that may not be covered by the dedicated monies listed in Appendix 1. This includes agencies such as York Meals on Wheels in York, Community Care East York in East York, Student Assistance in North Toronto for Seniors (S.A.I.N.T.S.) in the north part of downtown Toronto, Central and Northern Etobicoke Home Support Services (CANES) and Storefront Humber in Etobicoke, or organizations such as Warden Woods Community Centre that provides the service in the Warden Woods area of Scarborough without any funding but as part of the broader supports it provides to seniors.
Generally, with the exception of a couple of areas of downtown Toronto, snowshovelling and grasscutting services for seniors and people with disabilities are available for a fee. Some organizations did indicate that waiting lists exist.
Home Improvement Programs:
The Housing Improvement Program unit of the Housing Division delivers the federally-funded Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (R.R.A.P.). The program provides financial assistance to low and modest income homeowners in the former City of Toronto to bring their properties up to the standards required by the City =s Municipal Code and to assist homeowners in making necessary modifications which will make homes more suitable for people with disabilities. At the time this report was prepared, details of the R.R.A.P. program in the other former municipalities was not available. However, staff will forward the information directly to the Senior=s Task Force once it is available.
In 1997 in the former City of Toronto, approximately 39 loans amounting to $317,000.00 were approved for general home repairs under the homeowners portion of R.R.A.P. The average age of applicants was 59 years, however, two out every three applicants were over 65 years of age. Under the disabled portion of R.R.A.P., $70,000.00 went to approximately eight loans to make home modifications for people with disabilities. Discussions are currently underway with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation with respect to delivering the R.R.A.P. program for the new City of Toronto.
In addition, the Public Health Department provides seniors with injury prevention programs for the home across the City that range from group education sessions for seniors or community organizations serving seniors in some areas, to in-home assessment of seniors = homes in the downtown Toronto area, to prevent casualties in the home. The injury prevention programs are especially important as fall-related injuries in the home are one of the contributing factors to seniors seeking medical attention from their physicians and/or hospitals, depending on the severity of the injury.
Wheel-Trans:
Transportation services are an essential part of everyones lives and this is especially so for seniors and people with disabilities. As indicated earlier in the section on community supports, some volunteer-based organizations offer transportation services to seniors and people with disabilities as part of their home support programs. However, a major source for transportation services is the Wheel-Trans program provided by the Toronto Transit Commission (T.T.C.).
Wheel-Trans operates a specialized transit service within the City of Toronto for people with physical functional mobility limitations. Wheel-Trans directly operates 140 Orion II accessible buses and contracts for the provision of sedan and accessible taxi services.
As part of its accessible transit services plan, four community bus routes operate in south Don Mills, Parkdale, East York community council area and the Lawrence/Bathurst route in the North York community council area, transporting riders to a number of set locations frequented by area residents which includes shopping centres and senior =s health centres. In addition, the Pulse Bus service operates in the North York community council area where residents can call and arrange for special trips in the area. These services tend to be used by senior residents.
The T.T.C. is working towards making its conventional transit system more accessible. Currently there are five accessible stations and by 2002 there will be 28 with the completion of the Sheppard subway line. It is also expanding its conventional bus services to operate more accessible buses. There are 11 accessible routes in service at this time. By 2002 there will be 43 accessible routes.
As of February 1998, 12,500 people were registered with the Wheel-Trans program. The 1998 Wheel-Trans operating budget has remained stable at 1997 levels of $38.2 million, however, as of January 1, 1998, the full cost of providing this program was downloaded to the City of Toronto.
Conclusion:
A range of support services are provided to the City =s senior citizens and residents with mobility limitations. This report focuses on those municipally delivered or funded services seen to be crucial for these populations to retain their residency in the community. It does not provide an overview of the diverse community programs to seniors provided through the City's Parks and Recreation Department as these are seen more as social or recreational programs. Nor does it reflect some of the preventative programs targeting seniors provided at varying levels across the City by the Public Health Department.
The report does provide Committee members with some basic information as to the other support areas targeting seniors and people with mobility limitations, provided directly by the City or through community organizations funded by the City. This information is timely given the establishment of the Task Force on Developing a Strategy for Issues Concerning the Elderly. It is recommended that this report be referred to this Task Force for consideration in the development of a seniors = strategy for the new City.
Contact Name:
Lydia Fitchko - 392-5397
Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services
Appendix 1
Municipally-Funded Snowshovelling and/or Grasscutting Services for Seniors and People with disabilities (pwd), 1997-98 Season
|
District Area |
Program Administrator |
Eligibility Criteria |
Income
Test |
Description of
Program |
Cost of Program |
Customers Served |
|
Etobicoke |
Central and Northern Etobicoke Home Support Services (CANES)
Storefront Humber for southern Etobicoke |
Seniors (65+) and pwd
Seniors (65+) and pwd |
No
No |
-links consumer with student to provide service
-$7/hr paid by consumer directly to student
Same as above |
approximately $31,400 for snow-shovelling and coordination services funded by Works Department (Etobicoke)
$15,660.00 for snow-shovelling funded by Works Department (Etobicoke) |
approx. 700
903 registered
346 served |
|
York |
Snowlink program administered by Works Department (York), however services coordinated by York Fairbank Centre for Seniors, York Community Services, and George Syme Seniors Centre of York |
Seniors (65+) and pwd |
No |
-customer will be assigned a student to provide service
-subsidy of $10 maximum per storm; $65 maximum per season
-customer must register with program and submit claim form for reimbursement
-application forms distributed at three seniors centres in York |
$50,000.00 for snow-shovelling (includes administrative costs) |
820 registered |
|
North York |
Four Seasons Connection program coordinated by Don Mills Foundation for Senior Citizens |
older adult (55+) and pwd |
No |
-coordination of students/ adult to provide snowshovelling and grasscutting service to customers
-customer registers with Four Seasons Connection
-customer pays shoveller/grass-cutter directly
-rates are: students $7/hr adults $12/hr
-5 seniors organizations work together at directoral level to oversee the program:
. Bernard Betel Centre
.Downsview Services to Seniors
.Joseph E and Minie Wagman Centre (Baycrest)
.North York Seniors Centre
.E.P. Taylor Place Community Services (Don Mills Foundation) |
$85,000.00 funded by Parks and Recreation Department (North York) for administrative costs towards coordinating snow-shovelling and grasscutting services |
1889 (snow-shovelling)
1324 (grass-cutting) |
|
Scarborough
|
Scarborough Support
Services
West Hill Community Services |
-all residents of home must be seniors (65+) or pwd
-customers must be registered with Works Department (Scarborough)
-pwd must submit doctor =s letter to Medical Officer of Health who will then register consumer with Works Department
same as above
|
No
No
-financial assess-ment complet-ed if customer indicates financial assist-ance required
-subsidy avail-able on sliding scale depend-ent on income |
-links consumer with student to provide service
-consumer pays student directly
$12.00 single driveway
$17.00 double driveway
$8.25/hr for grasscutting
-service provided for most of Scarborough excluding West Hill and Warden Woods = catchment areas
-links customer with student to provide service
-customer pays student directly $11 single driveway $16 double driveway
-$8.25/hr for grasscutting
-service provides for West Hill catchment area |
$30,150.00 ($13,700.00 for snow-shovelling, $16,450.00 for grasscutting) funded by Works Department (Scarborough)
$9000 (approx. $6200 for snowshovell-ing and $2800 for grasscutting) |
approx. 240-260 depending on program
140 (snow-shovelling)
130 (grass-cutting) |
|
East York |
Applications processed by Finance Department (East York) services coordinated by Neighbour-hood Information Centre |
seniors (65+) and pwd |
subsidy avail-able if custom-ers in receipt of GAINS |
-links customers with snow shovellers
-fees paid to shovellers based on lot size
-applications and payment processed by Finance Department
-seasonal rates are as follows: $63/season for regular lots
($26.25 if applicant on GAINS)
$89.25 for flankage lots
($36.75 for applicants on GAINS)
-doctor =s letter required for pwd |
$89,190.00
($63,175 for shovelling services; $26,015 for admin. costs)
for snow-shovelling funded by Finance Department
(East York) |
372 registered |
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