The Executive Director of the Rural Ontario Institute says the ROI was happy to provide some of the data that formed the long-term strategic plan at this year's ROMA Conference.
Ellen Sinclair said "Opportunities for Rural Ontario in a Post-Covid World" writes a new story, with a renewed strategy to address challenges unique to rural regions of the Province. Sinclair says housing is a challenge throughout rural Ontario and generated a lot of discussion at the conference, including what potential exists for developers, but not the conventional developers we think of building houses,
She explained, “but housing co-ops and housing authorities and not-for-profit housing organizations, so they will be able to use this tool to see where the best locals are for developing more housing stock and more rental stock.”
And she says the data will give developers an idea of what is available, what the zoning bylaws allow in each area and what incentives there are in each municipality.
Sinclair say=id another topic was the challenge of attracting new people to rural communities. And she points that's not just about attracting people to move from the cities out into the country.
Sinclair said it's also directed, “but also the whole newcomer population, helping to make sure that they know there are options other than Metro Toronto and Metro Montreal and there are vibrant communities all across the Province that would welcome them and appreciate them coming and contributing to the economy.”
Sinclair added labour is a big part of that issue and institutions like work-place planning boards are valuable partners in that effort.
Sinclair says the ROI has also always been interested in something called community well-being and how they measure that.
She added, “Statistics and data show us it could be income, education, use of the health care system, distance to emergency rooms, distance to doctors. That kind of stuff, that helps a community, sort of, understand better, get a better picture of how it's performing.”
Sinclair adds, it's not something that should be used to compare one community another, but just to give each community an idea of how they're doing.
Sinclair says one other concern throughout rural Ontario is the lack of transportation.