Housing Options for Older Adults

How can we make it easier for older adults to find information on various housing options and supports as they age?

Project Description: The City's Seniors Advisory Committee (SAC) would like to develop a housing guide for older adults. The goal is to create a publication that includes information on various types of housing options, housing supports, financial supports related to housing, and well as contact information for the above. SAC would also like to work with students to build an intergenerational and collaborative working relationship. Best practices and research will aid in the development of this publication. This project aligns with the 2021-2026 Hamilton's Plan for an Age-Friendly Community (www.hamilton.ca/agefriendly)

Deliverables:

• Secondary Research

• Design

• Develop all content for the housing guide

Where the work will go and what it will be used for: The research and best practices will be assembled in an updated guide that will be kept digitally and printed as hard copies. The information will be kept up to date and disseminated through engagement events, recreation, libraries, and more.

City Staff: Lisa Maychak, Project Manager Age-Friendly City, Healthy & Safe Communities/ Long-Term Care Homes Division

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Cycling Facility Inspection and Patrol Study

What are some possible solutions to inspect and patrol segregated and non-segregated cycling facilities/lanes in Hamilton?   

Project Description:

Roadway maintenance is exploring innovative ways of patrolling, inspecting, and maintaining cycling infrastructure. There are many challenges in this process including visibility, planning, staffing and equipment necessary to inspect and maintain the varying designs of cycle lanes across the city. Cycling facilities are difficult to inspect appropriately by someone in a car due to high curb barriers and separation which leaves many issues on the bike lanes unseen.

The project will explore options, through an equity lens, for how to inspect and patrol cycle facilities. The project can include research on what other cities in Canada and worldwide are doing and explore what equipment and technology could be necessary or possible (such as bikes or e-bikes to use for inspection). This project could include a mapping out of which routes in Hamilton to take for inspections and a cost analysis of different solutions.

Deliverables:

• Primary Research (i.e. conducting surveys and/or collecting data)

• Secondary Research

• Business Case

Staff Lead: Jim Moore, Superintendent, Roadway Maintenance (District West), and Andy McNicol, Supervisor, Roads Compliance

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Improving Community Housing Application Process

To provide a citizen-centered approach for applicants to make better-informed decisions about their housing.

Project Description:

The project will be to update the binder and information on each individual property listed in the Community Housing building selection form. This will be used to improve efficiencies in finding and providing information about units. This could be formatted as a page per property that lists location, photos, and basic information. There are future capabilities to adopt into an online tool however currently the information requires updating and changes to historical information.

Potential Deliverables:

• Primary Research (ie. conducting surveys and/or collecting data)

• Secondary Research (i.e. review of literature and finding information from books and online)

• Prototype (physical)

• Some stats on the number of units/properties/ etc. per ward and/or in the whole city

City Staff: Kim Ryan-Acting Supervisor, Housing Services, Housing Access and Supports

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Closing Cycling’s Gender Gap

What barriers do women in Hamilton face to cycling, and what can be done to increase the rates?

Project Description:

Despite the growing popularity of cycling in Hamilton, there remains a gender gap in participation. While the number of local trips made by bike more than doubled from 2011 to 2016, women are cycling at lower rates and account for one-third of trips. Several factors have been attributed to this imbalance, including safety concerns, lack of appropriate infrastructure, and cultural attitudes toward cycling. Women often report feeling unsafe cycling on busy roads, and the lack of separated bike lanes and bike parking facilities exacerbates this issue. Additionally, cycling is often seen as a male-dominated activity, which can discourage women from participating. Addressing these issues and promoting cycling as a safe, accessible, and inclusive mode of transportation is critical to closing the gender gap in cycling and promoting more sustainable and equitable urban transportation systems. The City's Sustainable Mobility Team leads the delivery of cycling facilities, programs, and services that help expand mobility options. We will start an update to the Cycling Master Plan and Pedestrian Mobility Plan, and tackling the gender gap will be a priority.

Deliverables:

• Primary Research (i.e. conducting surveys and/or collecting data)

• Secondary Research (i.e. review of literature and finding information from books and online)

• Policy Paper

Where the work will go and what it will be used for: This work will inform the development of the Integrated active transportation master plan.

City Staff: Trevor Jenkins, Project Manager, Sustainable Mobility Planning

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Hamilton Water Communication – How are we doing?

How do residents of the City of Hamilton want to be communicated with about Water, Wastewater and Stormwater?

Project Description: The Division of Hamilton Water uses several methods to communicate with Hamilton residents for a variety of reasons.  Some are educational and encourage behavioral change (ie. Toilet flushing behaviors that impact infrastructure and environment), some are informational (ie. Potential health concerns related to Lead Pipes) and some are regulatory (ie. Ensuring compliance with our City by-laws). To relay these messages, we use several different methods including the City’s website, mailed letters, digital ads, radio messages, print ads in newspapers/magazines, and bill inserts. In some instances, we use the City of Hamilton’s social media accounts to share information about programming. We want to know if these are the most effective methods of communication. 

Research Questions:

• How do residents want to be communicated with? Are they receiving our message and taking action when needed?  

• What do they want to hear about? Do different issues/messages drive different methods of communication? (ie. Residents want to know about Stormwater facility maintenance because they live nearby vs proactive notice about upcoming construction).

• Are mailed letters an effective form of communication? What are the preferred/most effective alternatives?  

Deliverables:

• Primary Research

• Secondary Research

Staff lead: Rob Richarz, Project Manager – Outreach and Education, and Lugene Donelson, Senior Project Manager

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Getting Teens to School

How do we get secondary school students to engage in active and sustainable modes of travel?

Project Description: Physical activity has been associated with numerous beneficial outcomes to physical, emotional, mental, and social health, academic performance, and climate benefits (e.g., reduced air pollution). For over 20 years, the City of Hamilton has conducted reviews, improvements, and policy development to create safer neighborhoods for students to use active and sustainable modes of travel to get to and from school. For example, walking, cycling, skateboarding, school bus, and city bus. However, despite concerns for pedestrian safety and decreasing physical activity levels as we age, secondary schools have not been a primary focus. Therefore, there is a gap in the active and sustainable school travel program that must be addressed. While parents are key influencers in the travel mode for elementary students, secondary students are more independent in their day-to-day lives. Therefore, understanding this unique population’s needs and challenges to using active and sustainable school travel, and how to best reach this population is warranted.

Potential Deliverables:

• Marketing Campaign

• Pilot

• Recommendations Report/Resource

Project Location: City-wide, Two schools will be identified by City staff, in collaboration with our School Board partners, prior to the outset of the project. Diversifying for social demographics of health and by the willingness of principals to have the project conducted.

City Staff: Krystn Orr, PhD, Physical Activity Specialist, Chronic Disease Prevention, Public Health Services and Callaway Johnson, Project Coordinator - School and Community, Transportation Planning and Parking

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Right-In-Right-Out Turn Compliance

What is compliance with right-in-right-out rules, and how could we further increase traffic safety?

Project Description:

Currently, there are notable compliance issues with driveways where the turning movements are restricted to right-in and right-out only. Different types of separators (colloquially known as "Porkchops") exist, from just paint, to low-curbed concrete barriers, to full separation with landscaping. Transportation Planning has input on the design of these separators when a development is proposed. We are wondering - what the rate of compliance is across different separator typologies, considering other factors such as traffic volume and land use, and how Transportation Planning could drive greater compliance with these rules while keeping separator design as simple and low-cost as possible. Students would ideally complete field research about compliance, and analyze these findings.

Potential Deliverables:

• Primary Research

• Secondary Research

• Policy Paper

• Design

City Staff: Domenic DiFlavio, Project Manager, Transportation Planning

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Protect & Grow Hamilton’s Woodlots

What is the current state of publicly owned woodlots? How can we monitor the long-term health of these woodlots?

Problem: As diseases and invasive species enter the City of Hamilton, we are unable to accurately protect publicly owned forested woodlots because we lack 1) knowledge of the locations and current state of publicly owned woodlots, and 2) tools to assess and monitor the long-term health of these woodlots. In addition, without the knowledge of what the current state of these woodlots are, we cannot prioritize improving their health through different Forestry management initiatives (e.g., planting, invasive species removal).

As the Project Manager of Forest Health, her two main priorities are increasing canopy cover and managing forest health to maintain the current canopy. This project connects both aspects of the position.

Project Components

1. Synthesize and compile current woodlot data (across the entire Hamilton Boundary) from stakeholder groups across Hamilton (i.e., Parks, Forestry, Hamilton Conservation Authority, Halton Conservation Authority)

2. Develop a layer of existing woodlot inventory with detailed information regarding woodlots.

3. Develop health assessment criteria including direction on next steps for woodlot improvement.

4. Analyze literature for key health information for publicly owned woodlots.

5. Apply similar techniques for health assessment from other organizations.

6. Design and implement a long-term management tool to maintain and monitor woodlot health.

Potential Deliverables:

• Primary Research (ie. conducting surveys and/or collecting data)

• Secondary Research (i.e. review of literature and finding information from books and online)

• Prototype (physical)

City Staff: Kristen Bill, Project Manager of Forest Health, Forestry and Horticulture

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