Ontario is considering an “urgent” 22-per-cent increase to welfare over three years and a new housing benefit to begin as early as 2019 as part of a 10-year roadmap to overhaul the province’s antiquated and rule-bound income security system, the Star has learned.
The proposals are included in a 180-page report by a provincially-appointed panel of community activists and experts being released Thursday by Community and Social Services Minister Helena Jaczek.
Although the panel says it is impossible to provide a 10-year price tag for the reforms, early measures are expected to cost $3.2 billion annually by 2021, according to the report obtained by the Star.
Jaczek, who set up the panel in July 2016, said she wanted the group to tackle the province’s “confusing, complicated and intrusive” welfare rules and to consider a broader approach to income security that includes housing, child benefits, health benefits, training and employment supports.
At the time, Jaczek predicted there would be a commitment to help vulnerable Ontarians in the 2018 budget and said the Liberals are prepared to fight the next election on the issue.
The panel, headed by former Ontario provincial court judge George Thomson calls on the government to create a system that treats individuals with dignity and respect and helps them reach their full potential through a comprehensive system of income and in-kind support.
The plan includes simple and easy-to-access social assistance, seamless and integrated employment and training support, access to prescription drugs, dental, vision and hearing care services for all low-income Ontarians, affordable child care, a portable housing benefit and an “assured income” for people with disabilities.
“Failing to reform the income security system comes with a heavy price tag. Moreover, it is a cost that will lead to ever-worsening outcomes for low-income people and the economy as a whole,” the report argues.
As a first step, the panel says the government should adopt a minimum income standard “a floor below which no one should fall” to be achieved within 10 years based on the provincial poverty line of about $22,000 for a single person. The standard for people with disabilities would be 30 per cent higher.
It also recommends starting work immediately to define a “market basket measure” that includes a basket of goods with prices reflecting the true costs and adjusted for all regions of Ontario, including the north. The measure would be used to evaluate the adequacy of the minimum income, the report says.
“The combination of social assistance and other income supports, in the absence of earnings and private income, should provide enough resources to cover essential living costs such as housing, nutritious food, transportation, disability related costs and other necessities, so people can avoid poverty, protect wellbeing and focus on employment goals and social inclusion,” the report says.
In the short term, the working group suggests a 22-per-cent increase to Ontario Works by 2020 to $893 a month, up from $721.
It recommends a 15-per-cent hike to the Ontario Disability Support Program to $1,334, up from $1,151.
For those who may balk at the cost, the reports says the “urgent, yet modest” increases to social assistance over the next three years amount to only 63 per cent and 70 per cent of the amounts being provided to participants in the basic income pilot for non-disabled individuals and people with disabilities respectively.
But this is only a starting point, the report says. Over subsequent years the “minimum income standard” will be achieved through a combination of social assistance and other income security reforms, it says.
A housing benefit should be available to low-income households starting in 2019 and initially cover 25 per cent of the gap between the actual cost of housing and a person’s ability to pay. Coverage would increase in subsequent years to cover 75 per cent by 2027-28.
The report recommends boosting supports for families with children, particularly grandparents and other relatives raising kids in the care of children’s aid to align with payments received by foster parents.
The panel also wants the government to help all low-income people, including those living in First Nation communities, access benefits paid through the tax system, such as the national child benefit.
With Ottawa signaling improvements to the federal Working Income Tax Benefit, the panel calls on Ontario to ensure changes boost incomes for low-wage workers in this province.
The report recommends adding coverage for dentures for people on social assistance by 2018 and expanding health benefits to all low-income adults over the next 10 years, starting with prescription drug coverage and then following with dental, vision and hearing care coverage.
“No matter our background, our successes or our challenges, we all have a shared interest in supporting everyone’s ability to thrive and contribute to the social fabric of our communities and the economic well-being of our province,” the report says.
“These are not investments into the system as it exists today,” the panel notes. “Rather, these are investments that will create the system of tomorrow — one that reflects the fundamental changes necessary to help people achieve social and economic inclusion,” the report adds.