The City of Orillia is taking steps to tackle poverty in the community.
Nearly a year after council approved the idea, a poverty reduction action plan was presented at Monday’s meeting, and city politicians have agreed to create a working group and hire a part-time staff member to help implement poverty reduction strategies locally.
Presented by the Orillia Poverty Reduction Strategy Municipal Advisory Committee, the action plan lays out a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term goals across six key areas meant to address the underlying causes of poverty in the city.
“To understand how to reduce poverty, we must first recognize what it means for someone to be considered above the poverty line,” said Nicole Ramjewan, a Lakehead University graduate student who worked on the plan.
“It typically requires a stable income that meets the current cost of living, allowing for housing, food, health care and other needs. However, not everyone has access to such an income.”
With 14 per cent of the population living below the Market Basket Measure — a measure of poverty based on the cost of certain necessities — and the highest rate of single-parent households in Simcoe County, the plan identifies an “urgent need for a targeted poverty reduction strategy.”
Rising costs of living, jobs and wages that fail to keep pace and mental health issues, are among the numerous barriers those in poverty face, said Ramjewan, with the action plan focusing its goals on housing, employment and income, food security, transportation, education and training, and children and youth.
“One key finding from our research was that the City of Orillia, the County of Simcoe, and various community organizations are already doing a lot to address poverty,” Ramjewan said. “Our recommendations aim to build on this existing work addressing gaps and identifying opportunities for improvement. “
A variety of goals were pitched in each area, from shorter-term efforts like extending the teen pilot program for local transit or hiring a community food strategy coordinator, to longer-term goals like lobbying for rent control measures or partnering with County of Simcoe to boost future child care space allocations.
With council’s approval on Monday, $47,500 of previously approved city funds will be re-allocated to hire a staff member, who will help the working group forward poverty reduction initiatives in the city.
The working group will consist of Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford, a representative from Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU), and members of the community representing housing, food, transportation, youth, and arts and recreation.
Numerous council members spoke in favour of the plan, with Coun. Tim Lauer suggesting that transit passes could be subsidized based on income.
“I'm still baffled why we do not subsidize transit on the basis of income as opposed to age,” he said. “To me, somebody with a bus pass in their hand has less challenges when it comes to food security. They can get to different places, and they don't have to worry about that bus fare.”
Lauer also questioned whether the city’s housing coordinator could serve as the staff support to the working group, but CAO Gayle Jackson replied she is “not quite confident that there would be enough time in the housing coordinator’s day to take on this area of responsibility at this time.”
During discussion, Coun. Ralph Cipolla said educating “young parents” should be one of the actions taken to help reduce poverty locally, but the committee responded that alleviating poverty is a complex issue.
“It's not just about educating parents. It's about reducing stress for all families in Orillia – it's about building opportunity in our community ... so families are able to meet the needs of their family members,” said SMDHU’s Charlotte Knegt. “It's more about creating a climate where people aren't just struggling from crisis, going from one crisis to the next.”
The new Poverty Reduction Working Group will report back to council in 2025 with evidence-based findings and recommendations for next steps.
Created in partnership with Lakehead University, the full poverty reduction action plan can be found in Monday’s council agenda package.
