Income Security: A Roadmap for Change
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YEAR 1<br />
The first year implements change in multiple ways. It<br />
begins by helping people in deepest poverty through<br />
raising social assistance rates, trans<strong>for</strong>ming the social<br />
assistance rate structure and making beneficial changes<br />
to rules around earnings and assets in social assistance.<br />
For those living in rural and remote areas, eligibility will<br />
be expanded <strong>for</strong> the Remote Communities Allowance<br />
within social assistance.<br />
These immediate changes are complemented by preparations <strong>for</strong> other benefit<br />
changes in the first three years of the <strong>Roadmap</strong>: co-designing the details of<br />
a portable housing benefit, engaging the federal government on enhancing<br />
the Working <strong>Income</strong> Tax Benefit (WITB) and taking transitional steps to move<br />
remaining children’s benefits outside of social assistance. Longer-term changes<br />
to make the social assistance system work better also begin through a new<br />
approach to Ontario Works legislation and regulations, testing new approaches to<br />
working with people receiving social assistance, committing to both a Minimum<br />
<strong>Income</strong> Standard and related development of a made-in-Ontario Market Basket<br />
Measure, and various other administrative changes in social assistance<br />
(eg, improvements to the ODSP application and adjudication process, changes to<br />
the definition of spouse).<br />
In addition, immediate work will begin on the development of case management<br />
and intensive assessment systems <strong>for</strong> social assistance, with co-design starting<br />
in early Year 1 to support full implementation of these systems by the end of the<br />
third year<br />
During Year 1, it will also be important to establish the third-party body that<br />
will review and comment on annual progress reports, so that the true impact of<br />
<strong>Roadmap</strong> re<strong>for</strong>ms can be measured Discussions with First Nations partners will<br />
also begin immediately to define the scope of legislative exemptions and establish<br />
processes to work together to progress towards First Nations control over social<br />
services, including interim steps such as the delivery of ODSP<br />
<strong>Income</strong> <strong>Security</strong>: A <strong>Roadmap</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Change</strong> 153