Homelessness crisis, provincial downloading impacting budget in Ontario city

Oshawa residents can now scrutinize the city’s 2026 budget line-by-line after the document was delivered to council Friday morning.

The 2026 Operating and Capital Budget and Nine-year Capital Forecast features $44.4 million in new infrastructure spending and represents a net levy increase of 4.68 per cent, which would result in an increase of about $8.93 per month for Oshawa’s portion of an average household’s property tax bill.

Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter said the budget “considers the realities” of unpredictable economic challenges and uncertainty, the impact of tariffs, supply chain disruptions and rising costs while remaining sensitive to affordability challenges facing residents.

It’s called the ‘Mayor’s Budget’ but Carter said collaboration was the key to developing a “fiscally responsible” document.

“The budget was guided by collaboration and thorough analysis, including one-on-one meetings with council members to understand their priorities, input from residents and businesses and close collaboration with the city’s leadership team. This budget carefully considers all factors, including affordability, health and safety, delivering exceptional service levels, and infrastructure needs now and for the future.”

As part of this approach, the budget also maintains existing staffing levels while ensuring residents can continue to rely on consistent levels of services, despite provincial downloading and addiction and homelessness challenges.

“Provincial and regional policy decisions have resulted in unprecedented levels of downloading which have greatly impacted our budget. This includes paying for and providing services for the social challenges that we are facing right here in Oshawa and across Canada.”

Housing, homelessness, mental health, addiction and social services are the responsibilities of Durham Region under provincial legislation, Carter noted. “Yet despite these mandates, Oshawa is left to address and respond daily to the impacts of these issues.”

“The City of Oshawa is compassionate but does not have the capacity to deal with the volume of unsheltered and the associated health and safety challenges.”

Oshawa is investing more than $5 million to try and address health and safety issues from those challenges, including:

• a specialized Fire Response Unit (known as the Rapid Response Unit) that responds to more than 3,000 medical calls yearly
• increased security and By-law costs to address the social impacts of the crisis
• a boost in funding in the city’s operations team to help clean up discarded items such as human waste, used syringes, garbage and the removal of graffiti
• community improvement grants to help businesses make investments in crime prevention through environmental design and repairs to property

New infrastructure investments in the budget include:

• $23.1 million in roads, with major reconstruction of Stevenson Road North to improve connectivity, accommodate future traffic growth and support ongoing development in the Northwoods Business Area
• reconstruction of Roselawn Avenue, Bickle Drive and Winifred Avenue in the Sun Valley area for $2 million. This project will be completed in coordination with the region to deliver water and sewer for the Sun Valley residents
• reconstruction of Meadow Street from Avalon Street to Manor Drive including storm sewers for $1.5 million
• reconstruction of Myers Street from Wolfe Street to Conant Street including the addition of sidewalks and minor storm sewer work for $815,000

These projects are in addition to the ongoing commitments related to the reconstruction of Conlin Road East from Ritson to Townline. This multi-year project $40 million project represents a significant investment in Ward 1, in addition to the multi-year $20 million reconstruction of Thornton Road in Ward 2

Total investment in parks in the budget is of $4.9 million, including a $1.8 million Lakeview Park enhancement at $1.8 million, which will see the replacement of the interlocking brick pathways throughout the park and temporary washroom facilities at the Jubilee Pavilion and the beach to address washroom capacity issues; and $935,000 for Knights of Columbus Park to construct an accessible pathway to the sports fields.

That’s in addition to the $50 million investment to modernize the Tribute Communities Centre committed earlier this year by council.

The budget also makes continued investments of $16.8 million in external agencies and community partners, such as Oshawa Senior Citizens Centres ($2.2 million plus $251,500 of in-kind services), the Robert McLaughlin Gallery ($992,600 plus $551,800 of in-kind services), Parkwood ($325,000), Oshawa Tourism ($701,200), the Oshawa Historical Society ($486,600 plus $63,780 of in-kind services; and the Oshawa Public Libraries ($9.6 million plus $1.7 million of in-kind services).

The commitment to the Oshawa Public Libraries accounts for almost 70 per cent of the total allotment provided to all the city’s external agencies.

Oshawa’s portion of the tax bill is 40 per cent; 46 per cent of the property taxes go to the Region of Durham, and the remainder to the province for education.

The budget is now available for public review on the Budget Documents webpage and taxpayers are invited to speak to council on Friday, November 14 at 9:30 a.m. Delegations will be heard in-person or virtually, with written submissions also accepted.

Members of Council may propose budget amendments at a second special meeting on November 28.

The meetings are open to the public, and residents can attend in-person or online via webstream. Delegations will only be heard at the November 14 meeting.

In-person delegations do not require advance registration. Virtual delegations and written submissions must be requested in writing to [email protected] by noon (virtual) and 4 p.m. (written) on November 13.

Visit www.Oshawa.ca/Budget2026 to learn more about the budget process.