Income Security: A Roadmap for Change

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A TRANSFORMED SOCIAL ASSISTANCE STRUCTURE RATE STRUCTURE Recommendation 11: Transform the social assistance rate structure so that all adults have access to a consistent level of support regardless of living situation (i.e., rental, ownership, board and lodge, no fixed address, rent-geared-to-income housing, government-funded facility). The current structure of social assistance income support and benefits contributes to complexity, the culture of intrusiveness and “policing”, and the burden shouldered by people seeking help. It does not reflect how people budget in their everyday lives and assumes people living in poverty should not have choice and dignity The structure makes it hard for people to know what supports are available and onerous for front-line workers to deliver the programs effectively Social assistance rates vary based on where you live, with whom you live and what your shelter costs are This means individuals have to provide continuous proof of their actual shelter costs and living arrangements They have to disclose if they are living with roommates or alone, if someone prepares their food for them, and if they are in social housing If they live with someone who is unrelated, a common situation in today’s high-cost housing market, they have to demonstrate how much rent they contribute and, after three months, they may be considered spouses based on an intrusive test 112 Income Security: A Roadmap for Change
Today’s social assistance programs deem people to be in a spousal relationship after just three months based on intrusive questions about their personal and financial relationship. Not only does this seem out of sync with the cost-sharing that often happens among roommates, it creates unfair barriers for low-income people entering intimate relationships because of a risk that they will become ineligible for assistance and potentially entirely reliant on the other individual. This is a particular inequity for people with disabilities as it may be restrict them from exercising their own personal independence. If you have no housing costs because you are homeless or are temporarily living with friends or family, you get no support for shelter costs, making it enormously diffcult to secure housing at all. If you are an adult who chooses to live with your parents, you go through a confusing test of “independence” that undermines personal preferences about family unity and assumes there are other housing choices in the community, a significant problem in First Nations and rural or remote communities. Simplifying the rate structure in Ontario Works and ODSP will have multiple transformative benefits: • It will improve equity and income adequacy for some of the most vulnerable people such as those with no fixed address. • It will free up front-line staff time so they can focus on building positive relationships with individuals to help them solve problems and connect to the supports they need • It will reduce the intrusive and complex nature of the current rules that require people, for example, to prove how much rent they pay each month Income Security: A Roadmap for Change 113
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INCOME SECURITY A Roadmap for Chang
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ACHIEVING INCOME ADEQUACY69 Setting
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A CLOSING NOTE164 APPENDIX A: Membe
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INCOME SECURITY: FUTURE STATE Essen
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3. Recognizing the Experience of In
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ENGAGING THE WHOLE INCOME SECURITY
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• The federal government enhance
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• Individual choice and well-bein
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• Conduct analyses on current and
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A TRANSFORMED SOCIAL ASSISTANCE STR
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• Initially exempt 25% of Canada
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SELF-GOVERNANCE AND RESPECT FOR FIR
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• First Nations social service pr
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• The capabilities, skills and pr
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SEQUENCING REFORM The Roadmap recom
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We recommend the Province commit to
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2015 also saw a commitment by the f
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MESSAGE FROM THE URBAN INDIGENOUS T
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Community members stressed the impo
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INTRODUCTION PURPOSE The Income Sec
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Income Security Reform in the conte
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2. Essential needs are increasingly
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• Research by the Social Planning
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The Additional Costs of Disability
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• From 2011 to 2014, the incidenc
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• Studies also show that adult-on
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• Indigenous peoples have signifi
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A NOTE ON PREVIOUS REPORTS Over the
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ONTARIO’S INCOME SECURITY SYSTEM
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services 64 More than 68% of socia
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FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL INCOME SECUR
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The federal Canada Child Benefit, t
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ENVISIONING THE FUTURE VISION All i
Page 68 and 69: GUIDING PRINCIPLES The following pr
Page 70 and 71: and structural racism to ensure equ
Page 72 and 73: 3. Recognizing the Experience of In
Page 74 and 75: Critical steps must also be taken t
Page 76 and 77: areas, including remote areas In se
Page 78 and 79: DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS 1.1 The Pr
Page 80 and 81: ONTARIO HOUSING BENEFIT Recommendat
Page 82 and 83: • People must be able to access a
Page 84 and 85: “I’ve been waiting for housing
Page 86 and 87: Children who are being cared for by
Page 88 and 89: When a child is in the care of a Ch
Page 90 and 91: WORKING INCOME TAX BENEFIT Recommen
Page 92 and 93: CORE HEALTH BENEFITS Recommendation
Page 94 and 95: A key strength of Ontario’s curre
Page 96 and 97: TRANSFORMING SOCIAL ASSISTANCE OBJE
Page 98 and 99: DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS 7.1 Develo
Page 100 and 101: People need to feel they have perso
Page 102 and 103: focussing primarily on eligibility
Page 104 and 105: • People are able to access servi
Page 106 and 107: • A simpler social assistance str
Page 108 and 109: 8.6 Regularly situate Ontario Works
Page 110 and 111: We note that ODSP has many positive
Page 112 and 113: as simple and streamlined as possib
Page 114 and 115: 9.4 Provide provincial-level assist
Page 116 and 117: Because moving to an assured income
Page 120 and 121: This flat-rate structure would appl
Page 122 and 123: DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS 11.1 Trans
Page 124 and 125: First Nations Delivery Agents of On
Page 126 and 127: INCOME AND ASSETS Recommendation 13
Page 128 and 129: additional costs they may have—wh
Page 130 and 131: HELPING THOSE IN DEEPEST POVERTY OB
Page 132 and 133: Single Non-disabled Person Fall 201
Page 134 and 135: • Setting the Standard Flat Rate
Page 136 and 137: The first Indian Act was passed by
Page 138 and 139: While the recommendations noted abo
Page 140 and 141: DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS 16.1 Based
Page 142 and 143: 16.10 Take steps to ensure that Fir
Page 144 and 145: • Community-based initiatives spe
Page 146 and 147: • Increasing and expediting help
Page 148 and 149: Until further changes to the 1965 A
Page 150 and 151: A CALL ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Th
Page 152 and 153: The Roadmap emphasizes the need for
Page 154 and 155: IMPLEMENTING AND MEASURING CHANGE M
Page 156 and 157: 3. The need to take a system-wide a
Page 158 and 159: SEQUENCING CHANGE: A 10-YEAR ROADMA
Page 160 and 161: YEAR 2 The second year of implement
Page 162 and 163: YEARS 4 TO 10 Years 4 to 10 will ma
Page 164 and 165: THE COST OF INACTION Poverty is int
Page 166 and 167: • Ontario Drug Benefit costs for
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• Social Assistance, through: •
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A CLOSING NOTE This Roadmap holds t
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Violet Boissoneau Linda Cobiness Jo
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APPENDIX B: POVERTY REDUCTION STRAT
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Canada Pension Plan - Disability (C
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Indigenous Friendship Centres: Not-
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Old Age Security (OAS): A pension p
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Rent-Geared-To-Income (RGI): Financ
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Trauma-informed practice: Practices
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Income Security: A Roadmap for Change

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