The mayor of London has developed a list of ideas for action as part of the first summary report of separate task forces in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a statement released Thursday, the report issued by the Mayor’s Task Force contains numerous discussions involving more than 200 people over the past three weeks.
“I was speaking with the Deputy Mayor Jesse Helmer, and we talked about things that we might be able to do to have some positive impacts, but first we had to understand what the issues were,” said Mayor Ed Holder.
“One thing that was clear was that we needed to understand the economic impact [of the COVID-19 crisis], and [the] impact on social services, and not-for-profits.”
Holder said they’ve focused on the impacts on various groups, as well as the recovery process in the last few weeks.
The economic business community has been subdivided into four areas, as well as social service and not-for-profits.
In total, the report outlines 32 ideas for action:
- Meet the immediate needs of people who have suddenly lost their income
- Support for renters and landlords
- More substantial property tax relief
- Ensure our frontline workers supporting our most vulnerable have the equipment they need
- Maximizing the experience and talents of our residents
- Closing the digital divide for students and families
- Clearly communicate programs in plain language
- Public health messaging for children and youth
- Ensuring women and kids at risk of domestic violence have a safe place to go
- Aligning deferrals of rent, utilities, property taxes, mortgage payments
- Minimizing layoffs by organizations without an immediate year-over-year revenue decrease
- Increase wage subsidy from 10 per cent to 75 per cent
- Coordinating the delivery of fresh, healthy food to people who are quarantined or self-isolating
- Meeting the basic needs of our most vulnerable
- Providing isolation spaces for people who are experiencing homelessness
- Increased support for crisis mental health and phone supports
- Benefits delivered through Ontario Works should be as flexible as possible
- Where possible and safe, adapting essential public works projects to new mobility patterns
- Front-load grants and transfer payments as much as possible
- A local clearinghouse matching needs for essential equipment and supplies and manufacturing capabilities
- Eliminate 30-day waiting period for work-sharing program
- Support of postal workers and Canada Post
- Continuation of public funding for arts, cultural events and festivals that have been cancelled
- Accelerating Core Area Action plan
- Lowering the peak load on essential services like grocery stores
- Security staffing
- Emergency procurement processes
- Flexibility in loading/unloading and delivery times
- Focused recovery plan for entertainment, culture, tourism and hospitality sector
- Support for recovery of the airport
- Closing the digital divide in infrastructure
- Shovel-ready infrastructure stimulus projects
“Those issues are going to change over the next number of weeks, [and] some may resolve themselves.”
Certain ideas of action during the shutdown have already been actioned, such as “increasing the wage subsidy to 75 per cent, [and] eliminating the 30-day waiting period for work-sharing programs,” said Holder.
The mayor says the city is currently figuring out ways to keep the economy moving along while respecting social distancing.
“[The council] approved a number of city projects which were deemed essential, which [means] real employment for Londoners and organizations,” said Holder.
“I believe there were eight of them.”
Locally, London-Middlesex is seeing 183 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday.
The death toll sits at eight, and there have been 52 recoveries.
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