Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus Advocates for Priorities at ROMA 2023 Conference

Submitted by Frontenac County | Feb 01, 2023

The Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus (EOWC) advocated for regional priorities at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) 2023 Conference held in the City of Toronto from January 22 to 24, 2023.

From across Ontario, the EOWC joined over 1,400 rural municipal colleagues at the conference to participate in meetings with provincial Ministers, Members of Provincial Parliament, and the New Democratic and Liberal opposition parties to discuss priorities including Affordable and attainable housing: The '7 in 7' regional housing plan, health care human resources, Ontario Health Teams' governance and structure, Long-term care funding and support

"The EOWC was eager and ready to represent our region at the ROMA 2023 Conference and meet with provincial representatives. We were able to gain awareness and traction on our '7 in 7' regional housing plan that proposes to build 7,000 affordable community rental housing units in seven years. The conference presented an opportunity for the EOWC to continue to make progress for our municipalities and residents," said EOWC Chair Peter Emon.

The EOWC met with Ontario Liberal and NDP Caucus members as well, to present and gain valuable feedback on the Regional Housing Plan. The plan was well-received and the EOWC looks forward to working with both parties as the plan moves forward.

Doing our part to increase housing supply: EOWC's '7 in 7' regional housing plan

The EOWC wants to do our part to meet the Ontario Government's target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031. Rural communities must not get left behind and rental housing needs to be considered in the solution.

The EOWC has the expertise of leading large-scale public-private regional projects. This bold solution would bring the private, non-profit and public sectors together to build affordable community housing to address the municipal housing wait lists. The investment could also incent up to three times the number of attainable market rate units across the region.

The EOWC will be working with a consultant over the coming months to develop a strong business case for the plan.

The EOWC looks forward to bringing more information forward as the plan moves ahead.

The Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus (EOWC) in a non-profit organization comprised of the Heads of Council of 13 upper and single-tier municipalities across rural eastern Ontario. The Caucus advocates on behalf of 103 municipalities and nearly 800,000 residents. The EOWC covers an area of almost 50,000 square kilometres from the County of Northumberland to the Québec border.

For more information, visit EOWC's website at www.eowc.org or Twitter account at @EOWC_ON.