Ottawa resident Scott Ferguson is often forced to make choices when it comes to food, rent and medical care, but he can’t cover all the costs.
“Every month is a struggle,” he said. “I basically eat one meal a day. It helps when I get extra money to put towards food.”
The 50-year-old receives $1,169 a month through the Ontario Disability Assistance Program, an annual rate that falls well below the province’s poverty line.
“I rely on him for all my income,” he said. — I have no other source of income.
Ferguson, who lives with spinal degeneration, says the rate of inflation has made costs so high he worries he can’t keep up. Although he lives with a roommate to offset the rent and receives financial assistance from his retired mother.
“There was no future for him to work because of his disability and it was difficult,” said Una Ferguson, 75. “I ended up working longer hours to support Scott.”
More than 200 advocacy groups have signed an open letter from the Income Security Advocacy Center asking the Ontario government to double ODSP payment rates to address the rising cost of living.
In the last provincial election, Premier Doug Ford promised to raise ODSP rates by five per cent and introduce legislation to tie annual increases to inflation.
“Raising it by five per cent doesn’t change the problem,” said Kenzie McCurdy of Stop Gap Ottawa. “I’ve seen comments online like, ‘Well, you need to budget better.'” How do you budget $1,169 for rent management? It’s a thousand dollars and everything else you have to do. There is no budget in the world to help with that.
Advocacy groups say the proposal, which equates to an extra $58 a month, is far from enough to survive. That means people like Jessica Waters are forced to live with roommates, hoping to save enough money to cover the medical bills they know are coming.
“It stresses me out because I feel like every year it gets harder and harder to do because the door keeps moving,” said the 33-year-old, who was diagnosed with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.
CTV News Ottawa spoke with several people on welfare who say they feel like they’ve been left to live on stagnant incomes they say are barely enough to survive.
“Doubling would put me on the poverty line,” Ferguson said. “It would make a world of difference, it would allow me to budget.”
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