Columnists
Vital signs, vital info, vital mesage
Into the turbulence of the municipal election period drops the The County Community Foundation’s 2018 Vital Signs report, available online or at local library branches, its second such report. The Foundation issued a first report in 2013, and a progress report in 2015. The Report is a ‘state of the community’ snapshot, condensed in about 12 jam-packed pages, that should find its way to the top of the briefing pile for all of our newly elected council.
Some stark facts jump out from the Report.
Fact number one: cost of housing. The median house price in the County ($395,000) is now more than $100,000 greater than the median price in Belleville ($291,000) or Quinte West ($293,000). That’s a 35 per cent premium, compared to a 13 per cent premium in 2008. House prices have been increasing at seven times the rate of increase in median household income. The County has a small rental stock to offer, and there is a long waiting list for social housing. Demand for housing in the County matched against available supply is obviously causing the boom in prices.
Fact number two: age profile. Notwithstanding the boom in house prices, our population remains stagnant (it stands at just under 25,000), and its median age is 54.5 years—some 13 years above the provincial median. That means there are and will continue to be a significant number of people who will live on fixed incomes.
Fact number three: incomes. More than 18 per cent of County households report after tax income of less than $30,000. For those people—whether on fixed incomes or earning minimum wages—housing, transportation and food costs mean there is little, if any, left over to cover essential monthly expenses, according to a Hastings and Prince Edward Public Health Unit study referenced in the Report. The Report zeroes in on shortcomings in access to food and transportation, but they are subsets of the larger whole; income is not sufficient to meet expenses. The percentage of housing units needing major repairs has gone up and exceeds the provincial average. The prevalence of low income households is not out of line with the provincial median, however.
Fact number four: jobs. The County’s job growth over the past five years has been well above that of Ontario and Canada; over 1,000 new self-employed jobs have been added over the last four years, some 80 per cent of County business are growing, and 60 per cent have plans to expand. The problem for workers is the seasonal, unstable nature of the work on offer, and the low income it pays; and the problem for employers is the lack of skilled labour available to do the work.
Fact number five: education. County students ranked below provincial averages in standardized test results in reading, writing and math, at all tested levels. High school graduation rates have improved slightly, but are still below provincial averages.
Fact number six: the not-so-bad news. Teen pregnancy rates are falling, although they are still above the provincial average, as are our obesity and smoking rates. The percentage of those without access to a family doctor is lower than the provincial average—but the absolute number is still over 1,700 people. Public safety is not a major concern. Mental health and life satisfaction are within spitting distance of provincial averages. Selfreported life satisfaction and sense of belonging are slightly below provincial averages, but still high. Measures are being taken on many fronts to address the already identified problems.
The Report does not tell our municipal leaders where they should be spending or raising their money; nor does it attempt to define what makes our economy tick. But it does leave a number of questions. Should more of our transportation budget be spent on public transportation rather than road maintenance? Are about one in five of us doomed to a life of barely getting by; and is this acceptable? Given that our economy is so heavily driven by tourism, are most of the new jobs going to be in the lower income sector? What can be done to increase our population, and therefore our tax base, to spread the burden more broadly? How can young families come here to live, or even stay here, when the cost of housing may be beyond their reach and local schools have been closed? Can younger people find the training they need to secure better paid jobs without abandoning the County? How do we address the cost of our municipal infrastructure when we are such a vast piece of real estate? Given our remoteness, what realistic alternative is there to a tourismdriven economy? How do we maintain the qualities of the County that bring tourists and potential residents here in the first place?
Some or all of these questions are perennial. However, the Report does a good job of bringing them into focus and up to date. Well done.
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