Report: 'Well-being' in Vaughan, Ont. may be declining

TheWeatherNetwork.com
Nov. 3, 2015
Cheryl Santa Maria

Vaughan, Ontario is booming. Located approximately 40 km north of Toronto, close to 300,000 people call the city home -- a 187% increase since 1991.

While the community is known for its largely well-to-do and diverse population, a new report suggests that quality of life may be poised to decline.

The report, called Measuring What Matters: The Vaughan Community Wellbeing Report 2015, cites housing affordability, hidden poverty, long commutes, poor air quality and a disengaged local community as some of the pressing issues.

Those conclusions were made after several quality-of-life factors were analyzed and then compared to the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW). The CIW is a measurement tool that complies data from Statistics Canada and local communities and divides it into categories.

According to the Toronto Star, other findings in the report indicate:

• Vaughan residents spend a lot of time in their cars, contributing to poor air quality and negatively impacting health;
• A large number of Vaughan residents own their homes but spend more than a third of their income on housing-related expenses;
• Some residents say they spend most of their day working and commuting, leaving them with no time to get involved in their community and/or local politics.

The report recommends increasing affordable housing and access to public transportation and encouraging ways to improve air quality.

Isabel Araya, executive director of Vaughan Community Health Centre -- one of the groups involved in the study, told the Toronto Star that city officials plan to address most of the recommendations in the report over the next few years.

The study was published Tuesday and authored by the Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC). It was released Tuesday.