More than a dozen advocacy agencies from Waterloo Region and Wellington County joined 230 others from across the province in signing an open letter to the Ford government this week written by the Income Security Advocacy Center (ISAC) calling on Premier Doug Ford to increase OW and ODSP rates to meet the cost of living. Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Programs (ODSP) remain stagnant as of 2018. A person can receive up to $1,169 per month in ODSP and $733 in Ontario Works. Across Ontario, more than 500,000 individuals or families count on the 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, as of June 30, Ontario Works’ caseload was 7,958. Greg deGroot-Maggetti, who is in charge of poverty advocacy work at the Mennonite Central Committee, told The Morning Edition host Craig Norris that people receiving 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 that limits your ability to work and earn your income it’s 40 percent below the poverty line,” deGroot-Maggetti said. “So doubling interest rates will put people close to the poverty line and so they have to be there and then adjust for inflation in the future.”

Double the prices

Although not mentioned in the party’s election budget, the Progressive Conservatives promised an annual increase of five per cent for the ODSP during the spring election campaign. The party also said it would introduce legislation to link annual increases to inflation. The party did not mention possible increases in the amount Ontarians can receive through Ontario Works. Aleksandra Petrovic, the executive director of the Waterloo Region Center for Social Development, says a five per cent increase in ODSP amounts to just $58 a month and that’s not enough. “First double the interest rates and then adjust them to what’s happening in the market,” Petrovic said. “If you allow rents to rise, then we have to allow support and welfare rates to follow that trend. That’s the only decent thing to do.”

Older homeless adults

Sharon Livingstone, chair of the Cambridge Council on Aging, has spent nearly 40 years in the disability field and says she has seen an increase in older people becoming homeless in the area over the past two years.
“What we’re seeing are seniors who may have been on ODSP or [Ontario Works] or even at its low level [Old Age Security]their partner might be going into long-term care or passing away and they can no longer afford the rent and they’re being evicted,” Livingston said. “And we also know that for a long time, people on ODSP had to figure out if they could pay rent or eat. And now we’re dealing with rising inflation and the cost of groceries going through the roof. We’re a rich country. This shouldn’t be happening ». CBC KW reached out to the province for more details on its plans to increase welfare rates. Sean Forsythe, a spokesman for Merrilee Fullerton, the minister of children, communities and social services, said the province’s plan to increase ODSP by 5 per cent is “the biggest increase in over a decade.” “In addition, we strengthened the Low Income Tax Credit for Individuals and Families (LIFT) to put more money in the pockets of 1.7 million people and invested more than $1 billion in the Social Services Assistance Fund to help vulnerable Ontarians have access at affordable prices. housing and social services’. Ontario lawmakers will return to provincial parliament on August 8 The Morning Edition – K-W9:03More than 200 advocacy groups have signed an open letter asking the Ontario government to double disability support payment 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 rates are stagnant as of 2018. One of the signatories was the Mennonite Central Committee of Ontario. Greg deGroot-Maggetti is responsible for the poverty advocacy project. He spoke to Morning Edition.