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Act Now to Save Housing Supports for People on OW and ODSP!

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Save Housing Supports!

The Community Start-up and Maintenance Benefit and the Home Repairs Benefit were both eliminated in the 2012 budget. The cuts will come into force in January 2013.

Cutting these benefits is the wrong decision!

Send the email below - fill out your name and address, add some comments about the impact of losing these benefits in your community, and click the "send" button.

We'll send your email to John Milloy, Minister of Community and Social Services, Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and Dwight Duncan, Minister of Finance.

Copies will go to Progressive Conservative and NDP Critics in these areas.

NOTE: Scroll to the bottom of this page for a variety of tools and materials to download - the letter template, a backgrounder, and a toolkit on how to apply for CSUMB.

  • Email Text

    Dear Minister Milloy, Minister Chiarelli, and Minister Duncan,

    I am writing to express grave concern that your 2012 Budget eliminates the Community Start-up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB) and the Home Repairs Benefit (HRB) for people on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program.

    The loss of CSUMB will have a considerable negative impact on people on OW and ODSP, the majority of whom are renters. Three aspects of this benefit make it essential for people on social assistance.

    First, it is targeted to help people on assistance – who are among the most vulnerable in Ontario. Second, it provides people with the direct assistance they need to retain their housing and prevent homelessness – it can help them pay their rent or utility arrears or help them move to safer or more secure housing. And third, this benefit is mandatory – people that are denied are able to appeal the decision. This oversight ensures a measure of fairness for Ontarians with low-income and protects them from arbitrary decisions.

    All three of these critical factors will be lost when CSUMB ends in January 2013 and new consolidated housing and homelessness funding comes into force.

    As you know, 50% of CSUMB funds are slated to be combined with funding from five other housing and homelessness programs into the new consolidated fund. Municipalities will set their own local priorities for this fund, which will be spread over a larger pool of potential clients.

    The accountability framework for this fund is yet to be created. Moreover, local Housing and Homelessness Plans are not required by the Ministry of Housing until January 2014. Moving 50% of the CSUMB funding to municipalities before they understand and plan responses to their local housing and homelessness issues is simply out-of-step with good policy and the timetable established by the government in its Housing Services Act. And, importantly, it remains unclear how moving CSUMB funds will impact First Nations.

    The loss of HRB will have a negative impact on low-income Ontarians struggling to maintain and repair their own homes. While the Ontario Renovates program may be an alternative, it operates in municipalities primarily as a loan program, which people on social assistance will have great difficulty repaying. This cut is more likely to affect people on ODSP, and those in rural, northern and First Nations communities.

  • It is especially troubling that these cuts to social assistance benefits are being made just as the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance has issued its final report and recommendations. The cuts pre-empt and undermine the important process of reform that will arise out of the work of the Commission.

    I strongly urge you to reverse this cut and restore full funding to these critical programs.

    CC: Toby Barrett, PC Critic for Community and Social Services

    Cheri DiNovo, NDP Critic for Community and Social Services

    Steve Clark, PC Critic for Municipal Affairs and Housing

    Cindy Forster, NDP Critic for Municipal Affairs and Housing

    Peter Shurman, PC Critic for Finance

    Michael Prue, NDP Critic for Finance

  • Download the Housing Supports Template here in order to send it as a hard copy letter to the politicians. You can also distribute it at community meetings or events.
  • And here is a Toolkit for Frontline Workers, developed by Parkdale Community Legal Services, to help people apply for the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit before the end of December 2012. People on social assistance themselves will probably find this toolkit helpful as well.
  • And watch this space for more information and tools!

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