The City of Ottawa’s Finance and Economic Development Committee has approved a one-time injection of $3.25 million from the Province, to improve long-term care facilities and expand housing and homelessness initiatives.
One million dollars will be spent to buy urgent infrastructure upgrades for the City’s four long-term care homes and pay for staff training and improved technology. This money will supplement $800,000 already approved by the Community and Protective Services Committee to hire 35 new Personal Support Workers as soon as possible.
This comes just one day after the Auditor General Ken Hughes issued two reports on the state of the four city-run LTC homes, showing gaps in the handling of medication and in reporting sexual abuse to authorities.
The City says the remaining $2.25 million from the Province will go toward housing and homelessness projects.