Thank you.
Good morning. My name is Rick Williams and I'm here as president of the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association, or OMSSA. I'm also the community services commissioner for the district of Muskoka.
OMSSA is the collective voice of social and community services staff at the municipal level in Ontario, and our mandate is to make positive progressive change happen in the areas of early learning and care, homelessness and housing, and social assistance. For Canadian citizens to be productive and contributing members of the economy, OMSSA believes the federal government must increase investments in social infrastructure. We ask you to note the following issues of concern to us.
First, governments must recognize that access to affordable housing is critical to the economic and social vitality of communities across our nation. Poor housing imposes enormous and far-reaching costs, impacting on health, public safety, education, and participation in jobs. For instance, research and experience shows that the greater the incidence of housing inadequacy, instability, and unaffordability, the greater the use of emergency health and social services. Furthermore, children in stable, adequate housing have much better school outcomes.
OMSSA was pleased to see the federal government pledged to increase the supply of affordable housing in the 2006 budget. However, we believe more can be done. For example, the supporting communities partnership initiative, or SCPI, has been successful in increasing the availability and access to a range of services and facilities, which support various homelessness initiatives. However, funding for this initiative ends next year. Should SCPI or a similar type of funding not exist throughout 2007 and beyond, many homeless prevention projects will have to cease. The current SCPI program is restricted to urban centres. Homelessness exists mostly in cities but has its roots in all communities.
OMSSA's second concern deals with economic security. A healthy, thriving society needs all its members to participate fully. For Canada to be a competitive global force, it must alleviate the unnecessary costs associated with poverty, such as health and justice expenses, loss of human capital, and the diminished productive capacity of those living in poverty. Therefore, the federal government must work with all concerned parties, provinces, and municipalities to address the following issues.
First is to broaden the eligibility requirement for EI benefits. At present, only 38% of the unemployed have access to EI, whereas several years ago close to 76% of Canada's unemployed were eligible. Also, the federal government needs to help create a coherent national approach to providing adequate social assistance rates and improved and expanded employment supports. A potential model for this now exists within a recent report called MISWAA. In addition, we ask that the federal government provide funding for training and development, including special supports to disabled and multi-barriered recipients, to encourage participation in community activities and long-term capacity building.
Finally, OMSSA believes the link between investing in high-quality early learning and care and building healthy, successful communities is clear: high-quality early learning and care isn't just taking care of children's physical needs and it's not babysitting; it's supporting children to achieve their optimal development in learning, and starting them on the solid paths of social, physical, and intellectual development. A recent study by Dr. Lawrence Schweinhardt showed that adults who received high-quality early learning and education grow up to show economic and social gains and have less interaction with the criminal justice system. Consequently, OMSSA requests that the $250 million this government has earmarked for additional development of child care spaces be allocated to the regulated system, planned and delivered in cooperation with all concerned governments. Since the government's announcement that the 2005 federal-provincial early learning and care agreement would be terminated in 2007, stakeholders have been facing serious challenges in sustaining the important early learning and care programs that are already in place, many in our rural and most vulnerable communities.
To summarize, OMSSA encourages the Government of Canada to address the following: one, play a lead role in homelessness prevention and work with concerned governments on this issue, including an extension or redevelopment of the SCPI program; two, continue the phased expansion of affordable housing initiatives in collaboration with the province and municipalities; three, create a coherent national approach to provide adequate social assistance rates and improved and expanded employment supports and training; and four, play a stronger role in creating a national early learning and care policy framework to benefit all children and families, including the annualization of the $250 million pledged to the development of new spaces.
Societies that succeed and thrive are the ones that understand how important it is that every member of the community have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully. These are the societies that see the value of investing in social infrastructure. These are the societies that believe investing in people makes sense.
Thank you.