An Oakville mother tells CityNews her daughter, who lives with a developmental disability, has spent nearly two decades on a group home waitlist.
Sally Mitzel is a proud mom and caregiver to her 39-year-old daughter, RaeAnn, who she says functions at the level of a three-year-old.
RaeAnn, who loves bowling, music, and walking, has been on a waitlist for a group home for the last 18 years.
Sally’s husband died five years ago and she’s solely responsible for RaeAnn. She now worries what will happen to her daughter when she passes away.
“The objective of every parent with a disabled child is to live one day longer,” she said.
She fears RaeAnn will not find a home until after she passes.
“I don’t really understand the system, and the way I understand it is if someone is in crisis that’s how they get a placement.”
RaeAnn is one of around 53,000 people with developmental disabilities on waitlists for essential supports and services across the province, according to Community Living Oakville — a non-profit agency supporting people with developmental disabilities with everything from housing services to day services.
“Right now because of this crisis, we’ve seen an increase in homelessness, we’ve seen an increase in human trafficking, we’ve seen people being inappropriately placed in hospital settings and also even in long-term care homes,” said the group’s executive director, Alexandra Hoeck Murray.
Hoeck Murray says along with the waitlist there’s another issue at play — chronic underfunding in the sector.
“We rely on ministry funding annually and the annual funding we receive just doesn’t chime anymore with the cost of living.”
While the province did not directly address the backlog, The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services tells CityNews in part it’s invested 3.7 billion dollars in developmental services this year — funding that supports approximately 19,000 adults through supportive living services at over 240 developmental services agencies.
The Ministry also says it’s supporting two new facilities for adults with disabilities in Hamilton and Toronto.
Mitzel says that’s still not enough.
“It’s unfortunate that there is a waitlist and why that is in a society where people have billions of dollars to spend on war?”
