Following a recent public forum sponsored by Peel Poverty Action Group and District Labour Council, PPAG sent a letter to Minister of Child and Youth Services Deb Matthews documenting personal hardships revealed at the meeting by some of the 60 or so participants.
The stories put a human face on those struggling.
For example, a PPAG member, who's now 51, has needed disability supports since birth, though he has worked full-time or part-time on and off. In 1975, when he first joined the Ontario Disability Support Program, he received $257 per month. Thirty-three years later, he receives $784 per month, but only when he’s not working.
“When he works, ODSP deducts half of whatever he earns. His last month’s ODSP statement showed that he received $347 from them, plus half of whatever little he earned from his part-time job,” said PPAG chair Edna Toth. “Because of these clawbacks, he is unable to get out of the poverty trap. He has no life. He can’t even rent a movie, let alone alleviate some of his social isolation by going to the movies.”
Another man, who has a disability, has traveled in Scandinavia, and commented on how sympathetically people with disabilities there were treated and integrated into society, and how well they lived because of social supports. They have no more struggles, he said.
By contrast, he added that food bank lineups in Peel are becoming longer, with working poor forced to use their wages to pay high rents.
A 17-year-old girl spoke about Peel Youth Village, a supportive housing program for homeless youth. She said too many youths are desperate for affordable housing, but Peel has a 21-year waiting list for rent-geared-to-income housing.
PPAG is calling on the government to cease clawbacks of earned income from ODSP allowances; change laws governing employment agencies that exploit workers; help fund breakfast and after-school care programs for children; and provide housing support and subsidized housing for people who need it. Simplifying the process is also needed, said Toth.
“Governments should reduce the expense of multiple levels of bureaucracy and administration, and direct the tax dollars to providing for the real needs,” she said.
