Recession effects still being felt by Halton Residents

The Halton Region's Health and Social Service agenda for Tuesday May 25th has a report concerning the impact of the economic recession on many Halton residents. It is interesting that although there are many positive signs of recovery, when it comes to requests for social assistance the numbers are continuing to climb. The requests for low income supports and children's services bounced back in March after a slight drop in February.
The average caseload for Ontario Works was 1,937 in 2009, having increased from 1,475 in 2008, a 31% increase year over year. Preliminary caseload data for 2010 shows steady growth with an average of 2,160 for the first quarter. The Employment Insurance caseload has also increased significantly from 2008.
When Halton Regional Council considered its 2009 budget in November 2008, it was obvious that we were into a recession. Staff begin work on the next year's budget early in the summer and in the summer of 2008 they produced a typical budget with over 40 new positions included. Regional Council took the position that we were into an uncertain period where we would need much more budget resources to support those who were losing their jobs and their savings. What we decided to do was to freeze the staff compliment but to collect the taxes that would have been used to pay the proposed new hires. This proved to be a very prudent measure as we certainly needed the money.
As has been noted, we are still in the same situation where we need to focus our resources on those who are facing tough economic challenges in their lives.
Halton Regional Council also gave direction to staff in 2009 to bring in a budget that had a zero tax increase in recognition of these on-going challenges. As well, councillors personally chose to leave our own salaries at the 2009 level. You may recall that I attempted to have this happen the previous year but my motion failed in a vote of 11 to 10. I put the motion forward as I feel that Councillors need to lead by example.
The full report on Halton's intervention servicces during 2009 can be found at http://www.halton.ca report on the May 25th Health and Social Services agenda, report SS-14-10 Coordinated Intervention Services Client Profile During the 2009 Recession Period.