Posts Tagged ‘poverty’

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Ontario’s ‘affordable housing’ task force report does not address the real problems

Friday, February 11th, 2022

… the report reads like a blueprint for how to build more market-rate housing. Unfortunately, there is little empirical evidence to indicate that on its own, market-driven upzoning, laneway housing or mixed-use zoning produces the kind of housing that is accessible to households on low and moderate incomes… We talk a lot about housing today… because it has now become a middle-class problem.

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Posted in Inclusion Debates | 1 Comment »


Ontario’s ‘affordable housing’ task force report does not address the real problems

Friday, February 11th, 2022

The tasks force’s recommendations are squarely aimed at this middle-class interpretation of the housing crisis… these measures will do very little for those on low and moderate incomes… Instead, a range of policies are needed to curb speculation, increase the supply of non-market, genuinely affordable housing and ensure tenants have adequate protections through strong rent-control policies.

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Prosper Canada simplifies the search for government benefits with new Benefits wayfinder

Thursday, January 27th, 2022

As Canada confronts the worst wave yet of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to help people who are financially struggling to access financial relief has never been greater… The Benefits wayfinder can be used by individuals, as well as community service providers that help people to access their income benefits. The design process engaged target users and incorporated their feedback at every stage to ensure the tool delivers on its promise to simplify and demystify the search for government benefits.

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Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »


Canadians with disabilities fell through the cracks in the pandemic response. Here’s what needs to change as Omicron surges

Tuesday, January 11th, 2022

… living with a disability is one minority group that anyone can join.  Disability Without Poverty is led by people with disabilities and came about around the end of 2020 in response to gaps in how the government served their communities during the pandemic and to push for a national disability benefit, which has been slowly moving through Parliament and would provide support besides existing provincial programs. 

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The cost of inaction for youth ‘aging out’ of Ontario foster care is estimated at $2 billion

Tuesday, January 4th, 2022

One key recommendation is to rethink the norm of independence at 18. From interviews with youth, all describe profound isolation, loneliness and few caring relationships underpinning the challenges they face. We must shift to a model of interdependence — fostering non-professional caring relationships for youth under state guardianship that extend long after 18.

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Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »


Welfare in Canada, 2020

Sunday, December 12th, 2021

For each province and territory, this report provides data and analysis on the total welfare income that households receiving social assistance would have qualified for in 2020, including COVID-19 pandemic-related supports… The reports look at four different household types for each province and territory.

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Posted in Social Security History | No Comments »


CERB helped Canadians during COVID-19 — but not the most vulnerable

Friday, December 10th, 2021

CERB is an example of a liberal welfare policy that distinguishes between the deserving and undeserving. Benefits were limited to $2,000 per month and taxable. Benefits were only available to people who earned a minimum of $5,000 in the previous year and whose work was directly affected by COVID-19… Like many limited means-tested programs that emphasize work above all else, CERB left out the most vulnerable in our society.

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Unchecked inequality is driving child poverty

Sunday, November 28th, 2021

Ontario was richer than ever.  Yet we still had half a million children in poverty… Canada’s Big Six banks… made $46.6 billion in profits in 2019. Their CEOs’ salaries averaged more than $11 million… Wealth and poverty sit side by side in every part of Ontario. There is money here, and it’s more than enough to wipe out child poverty — if we decide to… We need to increase transfers, boost parents’ wages, and make life more affordable… Good policy is not enough, though. What we need is political will.

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Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »


Food banks are a blessing, but they’re no fix for poverty

Monday, November 22nd, 2021

“Until we address the systemic chronic stressors that are producing and reproducing vast inequalities in our communities, we will never be resilient to the acute shocks that occasionally arise,” the report said. “The time to act is now. We urgently need to protect low-income households who continue to struggle with job losses, reduced employment hours and precarious housing.”

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We Finally Seem Ready to Take on the One Per Cent

Saturday, November 20th, 2021

Starting in the early 1980s and especially in the mid-1990s, social programs were cut and never restored, and no one suffered more than those at the bottom while those at the very upper end saw their wages (and stock options) begin to soar… But things change, sometimes quickly, and sometimes for the better. A minimum tax on corporate wealth was long seen as a pipe dream. Not now. Some 140 countries have just agreed to a minimum global corporate tax of 15 per cent… The pandemic has been a major accelerant. 

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Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »


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