The perverse logic of social assistance
Monday, March 4th, 2024
In Ontario, single adults who are unhoused… receive $343 per month for basic needs, and $0 for shelter. That works out to about $11 per day. No one can say with a straight face that $11 per day is a program designed to help people. How is it possible for someone to get by, let alone to get back on their feet, with so little? … It doesn’t function to bolster their well-being, or stop them from falling further into poverty. Instead, it responds to a person who has lost their home by making their life even harder.
Tags: featured, homelessness, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario Budget 2024 should advance the right to an adequate standard of living
Thursday, February 29th, 2024
To advance the right to an adequate standard of living, Ontario’s Budget 2024 should bolster social assistance, help low-income workers, support rental housing, and work productively with other orders of government to achieve these goals… the government must address the systems acting counter to this goal — social assistance, employment-related supports, and housing services.
Tags: budget, disabilities, housing, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
How should the new Canada Disability Benefit interact with existing disability supports?
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024
For the new Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) to meet its goal of financially supporting and reducing poverty of people with disabilities, it will need to supplement existing supports rather than causing them to be clawed back. This policy brief analyzes how the new CDB should interact with provincial/territorial social assistance programs and the federal Canada Pension Plan disability benefit (CPP-D).
Tags: disabilities, jurisdiction, participation, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Realizing the right to an adequate standard of living
Monday, September 4th, 2023
Everyone in Canada has a right to an adequate standard of living… having adequate food, clothing, and housing, and the continuous improvement of living conditions. [ICESCR – 1976] Maytree’s submission to the 2024 budget calls on the federal government to help people realize this right by strengthening income supports, investing in more affordable housing, and embedding human rights into social policies and programs.
Tags: disabilities, housing, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
The Canada Disability Benefit Act is progress worth celebrating
Monday, July 31st, 2023
First, it is a measure to prevent poverty that is protected by law. It adds to our system of legal protections, which include laws such as the National Housing Strategy Act (2019) and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005). These laws are important symbolically, as they codify our society’s commitment to uphold our economic and social rights. They are also important practically, as they require governments to set out rules about how they will put that commitment into action.
Tags: disabilities, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
Welfare in Canada, 2022 is now available
Thursday, July 27th, 2023
This annual report… provides the welfare incomes of four example households receiving social assistance in a calendar year for each province and territory… Included are: The components of welfare incomes and their amounts; How adequate welfare incomes are relative to measures of poverty; How benefit amounts and adequacy have changed over time… The majority of households (29 of 53) saw below-inflation increases to their incomes, and so were not able to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Tags: jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Social Assistance Summaries [Ontario]
Thursday, April 27th, 2023
For Ontario Works, single parent households had the highest proportion of beneficiaries, on average, with over 48 per cent, followed by unattached singles, with 34 per cent. Unattached singles comprised the majority of ODSP beneficiaries, with more than 58 per cent, followed by single parent households, with over 17 per cent. Females made up the majority of Ontario Works beneficiaries, on average, in 2021-22, with 65 per cent.
Tags: disabilities, jurisdiction, poverty
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Interpreting the data: Key takeaways from Welfare in Canada, 2021
Friday, March 24th, 2023
Welfare incomes were deeply inadequate across Canada: – All households in every province lived in poverty, and the large majority lived in deep poverty… Most jurisdictions did not make substantive increases to already inadequate social assistance benefits… Total welfare incomes increased in a limited number of cases. In most instances, higher inflation in 2021 negated their positive impact.
Tags: jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Reducing poverty among minimum wage workers in Ontario: The potential impact of the Canada Working-Age Supplement
Thursday, February 16th, 2023
To reduce the deep poverty unattached working-age single adults experience, Maytree and Community Food Centres of Canada have proposed the development of the Canada Working-Age Supplement (CWAS) by enhancing the existing Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) for unattached single adults… Overall, the CWAS would meaningfully reduce the depth of poverty and improve the quality of life of all unattached single adults earning the minimum wage in Ontario.
Tags: budget, economy, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Interpreting the data: Key takeaways from Welfare in Canada, 2021
Friday, December 16th, 2022
The data in Welfare in Canada, 2021 reveal five main findings: Welfare incomes were deeply inadequate across Canada: – All households in every province lived in poverty, and the large majority lived in deep poverty… Most jurisdictions did not make substantive increases to already inadequate social assistance benefits… Total welfare incomes increased in a limited number of cases. In most instances, higher inflation in 2021 negated their positive impact.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Recent Comments