Organizations that work with people on social assistance are hoping the Ontario government’s upcoming budget in August will include a significant increase.
Over a dozen advocacy agencies from Waterloo Region and Wellington District joined 230 others from across the province in signing an open letter to the Ford government this week, written by the Income Defense Center (ISAC), calling on Premier Doug Ford to raise the OW and ODSP rates to meet the cost of living.
Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Programs (ODSP) have been on hold since 2018. A person can receive up to $1,169 per month from ODSP and $733 from Ontario Works.
In Ontario, more than 500,000 individuals or families rely on ODSP for some or all of their income, with 12,852 of them in Waterloo Region and 5,862 in Guelph.
Meanwhile, 217,000 families or individuals receive Ontario Works. In Waterloo Region, the Ontario Works caseload as of June 30 was 7,958.
Greg de Groot-Maghetti, who is in charge of poverty advocacy work at the Mennonite Central Committee, told The Morning Edition host Craig Norris that people who receive these payments are living below the poverty line.
“The reality today is that if you’re on Ontario Works, your income is 60 per cent below the poverty line. “If you’re on ODSP, if you have a severe disability, then it limits your ability to work and earn. Your income is 40 percent below the poverty line,” de Groot-Maghetti said.
“So doubling rates will push people closer to the poverty line and that’s where they need to be and then be indexed to inflation going forward.”
Double the rates
Although not mentioned in the party’s election budget, the Progressive Conservatives promised a five percent annual increase for ODSP during the spring election campaign. The party also said it would introduce legislation to tie annual increases to inflation. The party did not mention any potential increases in the amount Ontarians can receive through Ontario Works.
Alexandra Petrovich, executive director of the Waterloo Region Center for Social Development, says a five percent increase in ODSP amounts to just $58 a month, and that’s not enough.
“First double the rates and then index them to what’s happening in the market,” Petrovic said.
“If you allow rents to go up, then we have to allow the living wage and welfare to follow that trend.” It’s the only decent thing you can do.”
Older homeless adults
Sharon Livingston, chair of the Cambridge Council on Aging, has spent almost 40 years in the disability sector and says she has noticed an increase in older people becoming homeless in the region over the past few years.
“What we’re seeing are older people who may have been on ODSP or [Ontario Works] or even at a low level of [Old Age Security]their partner may end up in long-term care or pass away and they can no longer afford the rent and are evicted,” Livingston said.
“And we also know that for a very long time, people on ODSP have had to figure out if they can pay rent or eat. And now we face rising inflation and the cost of groceries is going through the roof. rich country. This shouldn’t happen.”
CBC KW has reached out to the province for more details on its plans to raise social assistance rates.
Sean Forsyth, spokesman for Marylee Fullerton, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, said the province’s plan to raise ODSP by five per cent is “the biggest increase in more than a decade.”
“In addition, we improved the Low-Income and Families Tax Credit (LIFT) to put more money back in the pockets of 1.7 million people and invested more than $1 billion in the Social Services Relief Fund to help vulnerable Ontarians to have access to affordable housing and social services.”
Ontario lawmakers will return to the provincial parliament on August 8
Morning Edition – K-W9:03 More than 200 advocacy groups have signed an open letter asking the Ontario government to double disability support rates.
More than a dozen local advocacy agencies have signed their names to an open letter calling on the provincial government to double welfare payments. The letter says the government should double the Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Programs. It says welfare levels have been stagnant since 2018. One of the signatories is the Mennonite Central Committee of Ontario. Greg deGroot-Maggetti is responsible for anti-poverty advocacy work. He spoke to Morning Edition.
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