MPP’s plan to protect vulnerable takes another step
Burch wants minimum living standards for people in supportive housing
Jeff Burch’s plan to protect vulnerable adults living in supportive housing took another step toward becoming law this week.
In the legislature Monday, the Niagara Centre NDP MPP’s private member’s bill that would see the provincial government regulate private supportive- living homes received unanimous approval on second reading.
The next step is for the government to send the bill to committee for study, then MPPs need to approve it in third reading for it to become law.
“There essentially is no regulation at all right now,” Burch said Tuesday.
“Even retirement homes and other congregate-care settings have some kind of regulation, some kind of complaints process, but there is literally nothing right now.”
Supportive living homes include those for low-income seniors, people with disabilities, and people dealing with mental-health or addiction issues.
Burch’s bill would see minimum standards of living set in areas like fire safety, staffing, and quality of food, as well as establish a process for regular inspections.
It would also require group homes and congregate care settings to be licensed, with a fine of $1,000 a day for ones found operating without a licence.
For residents and their families, it would set up a process to file complaints and for the complaints to be investigated.
He said those places fill a vital need, but should be regulated.
With no formal complaint process now, Burch said, “often people have been threatened they’ll be kicked out (if they speak up) … And then they have no place to live at all.”
He said, “in Niagara, for example, there have been all kinds of cases of bed bug infestations, of food that’s inedible.”
Other homes, he said, have 15 to 30 residents sharing a single bathroom or haven’t met standards for fire safety.
“Certainly with COVID, the need for (regulation of these homes) has grown,” Burch said.
“It’s hard to find out what’s going on in these homes when times are good, but now when access is even more restricted we’ve had a very hard time … it’s really about shining a light on the conditions in these homes, that’s what will cause them to improve.”
It’s rare for private members’ bills to become law, especially ones proposed by an opposition member. A similar bill was proposed in 2017 by former Niagara Centre NDP member Cindy Forster but it died when the legislature was prorogued. It had widespread support, Burch said, and he hopes the unanimous support his bill received is a sign it might become law.