There were 8,664 homeless people living in Ottawa shelters last year — a large portion of them on social assistance. This includes people who have lost their jobs or can’t work due to chronic physical or mental health problems and need financial assistance from the government to get back on their feet.
In such cases, people can apply to the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) for help. But the barriers imposed by the programs on its applicants and recipients make it extremely difficult for them to improve their situation, often causing more mental illness and creating homelessness in the long run.
Part of the problem is the application process itself since ODSP turns down up to 80 per cent of its applicants, almost guaranteeing refusal the first-time-around.
Applicants have to get their forms signed by doctors and psychiatrists, and by the time the dust settles, the process can take anywhere from six months to more than a year.
So while people are waiting for financial assistance, shelters and food banks are the only alternative. And it’s not much better once those monthly cheques actually start coming in.
A single person on ODSP receives up to $930 per month, compared to a single person on welfare who receives about $523. But the average rent in Ottawa for a bachelor apartment is $623.
It doesn’t take much number crunching to figure out that an ODSP/OW income is not enough to pay for rent, bills and food, forcing recipients to sleep in shelters and/or rely on food banks.
Other barriers include the fact that ODSP covers only certain medications, and it’s often not the ones people need. In these cases, they either have to spend money they don’t have on proper medication, or take the one that is covered and suffer potential side effects.
It doesn’t end there: about 2,000 people are on the waiting list for temporary housing and care in psychiatric institutions, and those who actually get in can’t stay there for more than a month or ODSP will stop paying their rent and they will lose their regular housing. Often, people in these situations are forced to compromise their mental health for housing or vice-versa.
It’s no wonder then, that in the last year, 19 per cent of ODSP/OW recipients reported lower levels of physical health, higher levels of mental health problems, as well as a greater number of chronic health conditions.
If the Ontario government really wants to help people in need they need to dig deeper.
If people with physical and/or mental disabilities actually received enough money to buy their own food they wouldn’t need to go to food banks.
If they could afford housing they wouldn’t have to sleep in shelters.
If they had access to the proper medications they wouldn’t have to gamble with the alternatives.
And finally, if all of these basic needs were met, maybe they could actually recover.
But rather than addressing these needs, the government—perhaps in fear of criticism — is creating them.
And is that really how the social safety net is supposed to function?