Collaboration across sectors requires a
significant investment of staff resources,
and staff capacity was one of the top three
challenges to built environment work identified
in the survey of Ontario public health units.
With competing health priorities and limited
resources, it can be difficult to prioritize healthy
built environment work.
Collaborating across sectors requires not only
an investment of staff time, but also demands
new skills from a staff team. In addition
to professional development and training (discussed further below), public health units
have addressed this skill gap through hiring
practices. They have sought out candidates
from a wide variety of backgrounds (planning,
environment, and transportation as well as
public health) to create a diverse team. They
have created policy advisor positions dedicated
to identifying opportunities for public health
input, and they have cross-appointed staff with
municipal planning departments at the local and
regional level.