Who will staff Hamilton’s 1,500 new child-care spaces?

Hamilton is expected to get more than 1,500 new child-care spots by 2026. But in a chronically understaffed industry, experts wonder where the workers will come from.

A new report from the City of Hamilton shows that approximately 200 to 300 new child-care spaces for kids six and under will be created each year between 2022 and 2026, starting with 195 new spaces last year.

These would be additional spaces above and beyond what we have currently," said Jessica Chase, director of the City of Hamilton's children and community services.

Ontario was the last province to sign the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreement, which also commits to creating 86,000 new spaces across the province, including 15,000 previously committed in schools, with the federal government.

Experts say the program is vital to the economy and to accelerating gender equality in the workplace.

The new Hamilton spaces represent a 12 per cent increase in spaces from the 12,401 licensed spots the city had prior to March 2022, when it signed on to the national child-care strategy that aims to reduce fees for families to an average of $12 a day by September 2025. Eligible families have already received a 25 per cent rebate backdated to April 1, 2022, a savings of about $3,600 per child for the year.

The city has also requested an additional 237 spaces, which are pending Ministry of Education approval.

It's really good news for families that have a child-care space right now," said Carolyn Ferns, head of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.

But experts say wait lists will continue to grow as child care becomes more accessible across income levels.

There's going to be much more visible demand because families who never thought about putting their name on a waiting list before because they knew they couldn't afford child care, now, as fees go down ... many more families are going to want to be part of this," Ferns said.

In Hamilton, most child-care providers have opted in to the program. Currently, 215 of 223 eligible operators, representing 96 per cent, have opted in - with eight centres choosing not to participate - surpassing the provincial average of 92 per cent as of December.

In Hamilton, historically underserved Ward 6 (east Mountain), Ward 7 (central Mountain), Ward 3 (Hamilton Centre) and Ward 4 (east lower Hamilton) will get higher proportions of new spaces, while wards in Waterdown, Flamborough, Stoney Creek, the west Mountain and west Hamilton will receive fewer.

We have allocated spaces to all wards because we do recognize that there is a need right across the city, but those spaces have been allocated proportionally based on where we see the greatest need," Chase said.

Ward 6 on the east Mountain, for example, has a child-care access rate (the population of kids in the ward compared to the number spaces) of zero per cent for infants, nine per cent for toddlers and 18 per cent for preschoolers - below the provincial goal of 37 per cent overall. This is in stark contrast to Ward 14 on the west Mountain, which has access rates of 15 per cent for infants, 67 per cent for toddlers and 102 per cent for preschoolers.

Chase said wards were prioritized through an analysis that considered both current licensed capacity and socio-economic factors like income, race, ability and newcomer population.

Recruitment and retention of child-care workers crucial' to the program

But the creation of brick-and-mortar spaces isn't enough, Ferns said.

We need the staff," she said.

Recruiting and retaining early childhood educators (ECEs), who advocates say are underpaid and overworked, and lack benefits and opportunity for career advancement, has for years been a challenge, and the new strategy is expected to put added pressure on the labour force.

There are actually few child-care centres that are operating at their full capacity right now because they can't staff up," she said. At the same time, we have this commitment to create more spaces."

In a recent report, the YMCA, the largest child-care provider in the province, said no YMCA is operating at licensed capacity, in large part due to persistent workforce shortages across the sector."

Locally, operators report struggling to keep child-care centres staffed. Earlier this month, a west Hamilton before- and after-school care program at Cootes Paradise Elementary School closed temporarily due to an inability to meet staffing requirements for a safe environment.

This winter has been particularly challenging because, along with the shortages, you've got illness," said Nicki Glowacki, chief operating officer of the YMCA of Hamilton-Burlington-Brantford (HBB), the organization that runs the centre, noting that it's especially prevalent in child-care centres, where viruses runs rampant.

Glowacki said several locations in the area have been subject to similar closures in recent months.

Longtime local child-care advocate Judith Bishop, who addressed the city's emergency and community services committee Feb. 16, said ensuring a robust workforce is crucial for a quality child-care program in our community."

Child-care agencies are consistently short of staff at the present time and they have difficulty staffing their existing services, which means that we're not even providing the same service that we did pre-COVID," she said.

On Bishop's recommendation, the committee passed a motion to advocate to the province to resolve workforce issues such as adequate wages, benefits and staff development" so that new child-care programs can successfully be implemented in Hamilton.

Ferns said it's primarily a retention problem and it's driven by the need for decent work," noting that ECEs often leave child-care centres for jobs at schools, where the pay is higher - an average of $27 an hour, compared with $22.45 - or leave the profession altogether.

According to a City of Hamilton survey, local ECEs cite low wages and feeling undervalued as a professional" as the top two reasons for leaving the profession.

The province has taken steps to close the gap, establishing an $18-an-hour minimum for ECEs, with a $1-per-hour increase each year from 2023 to 2026 to a maximum of $25. But experts say it falls short of what's required to create a robust workforce and sustain the growing program.

The city's efforts include a marketing campaign promoting careers in the sector launched earlier this year, and system-wide professional development days.

Advocates are urging the provincial government to address the crisis, suggesting investing in wage increases to match those at school boards, funding benefits, and introducing more appealing career trajectories, among others.

It is tough work, and it needs to be fairly compensated," Ferns said.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com