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The YMCA is adding nearly 2,000 daycare spaces across the Greater Toronto Area in response to feverish demand from parents who are desperate for affordable, quality child care.
After years of decline, the number of Canadian children under the age of five and the proportion of two-income families is growing, especially in urban areas such as Toronto, where the cost of living is relatively high.
The demand is for infant and toddler spaces, as four- and five-year-olds are moving to full-day kindergarten, leaving smaller daycares to struggle without them. Larger agencies such as the YMCA have the capital necessary to respond to that need. The charity is set to announce Tuesday that it is adding 1,750 child-care spaces at 280 locations across the Greater Toronto Area, including Dufferin, Durham, Halton, Toronto, Peel and York regions. That represents about a 10-per-cent increase in the Y's capacity.
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In Toronto, there are close to 19,000 low-income families waiting for a subsidized space, and even those who can afford it spend months on waiting lists only to pay the highest rates in the country.
Families in Ontario pay a median price of $12,516 a year for an infant daycare spot, according to a recent report co-authored by Carolyn Ferns, a researcher at the Childcare Resource and Research Unit.
"There's a big gap between need and provision, it's as bad as it has ever been," Ms. Ferns said.