Item - 2025.EC24.8

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council direct the General Manager, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care to collaborate with community and sector partners on the long-term care home at 4610 Finch Avenue East to:

a. Develop specialized care, services, and programs focused on the needs and well-being of seniors who identify as Black and/or with the Caribbean and/or African diasporas; and,

b. Create a Long-Term Care setting with a focus on improving access and outcomes for residents who identify as Black and/or with the Caribbean and/or African diasporas.

2. City Council direct the General Manager, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management and the Executive Director, Social Development to explore options to apply the Community Benefits Framework to the long-term care home project at 4610 Finch Avenue East, in order to support social development and environmental stewardship within the Brimley Forest neighbourhood, which lies between Brimley Road in the west, McCowan Road in the east, Finch Avenue East on the south and the Finch Hydro Corridor in the north.

The City of Toronto’s Seniors Services and Long-Term Care (SSLTC) Division is responsible for service planning and strategic integration of services for seniors, which includes key caregiving programs within our communities, and direct operation of ten long-term, resident-focused care homes. As part of the Capital Renewal Plan, five of the City’s Long-Term Care (LTC) homes (1,232 beds) are being redeveloped to modernize operations. One of these projects is a 378-bed long-term care home in Scarborough North, 4610 Finch Avenue East, at Brimley Road.

SSLTC Division is guided by the shared values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence; these values are a natural fit with the City’s Community Benefits Framework, which applies to this project. The City commonly utilizes hard targets to maximize the social, economic, community or environmental impact of large civic infrastructure projects like this one.

SSLTC has a track-record in building ground-breaking inclusive programs, care, and services, alongside community partners and clients:

- Leading and Learning with Pride for 2SLGBTQI+ Seniors;

- CareTO is informed by evidence-based research to enhance the experiences of those who live, work, and visit LTC;

- Toronto Seniors’ Strategy to prepare City services for the future, including those who are Indigenous, Black, and who belong to equity-deserving groups.

Given the demographics of Scarborough, there is an opportunity to respond to the Ministry’s Long-Term Care Homes Cultural Pilot in order to better support applicants on the waitlist, those living in LTC, and also their loved ones and caregivers experience the best possible quality of life, while also having a positive and enduring impact on the surrounding community.