Helping tenants through the crisis while we wait for new affordable non-market homes
The Maytree Foundation has recently proposed permanent housing benefits to bridge the gap between low incomes and high rents. The benefits would need to be supported by improved rent controls, including an end to unlimited increases when tenancies change, to limit rent increases. And the benefits should be introduced now but in conjunction with a plan to significantly increase the supply of affordable, non-market housing that will take years to roll out. Learn more here: https://maytree.com/publications/why-income-support-is-good-housing-policy-a-new-case-for-a-permanent-housing-benefit-in-canada/?mc_cid=3d87ab25d7
The amounts provided for housing on Ontario social assistance programs is tiny. A single person on Ontario Works receives $343 a month for basic needs and, at most, $390 for shelter. A couple with two children could receive $494 for basic needs (for four people!) and $756 for shelter. The shelter portions for people with disabilities, under the Ontario Disability Support Program, are about $200 a month higher. They are absurdly low and one of the reasons Maytree proposed the housing benefit. Desmond Cole has a thorough look at just how punishing Ontario welfare shelter payments are in an article titled Ontario’s rent allowance isn’t a safety net—it’s a poverty trap. https://breachmedia.ca/ontarios-rent-allowance-isnt-a-safety-net-its-a-poverty-trap/
The federal government introduced a housing benefit, co-funded with provinces, but total funding and the size of each benefit was far too low (originally just $200 a month) and the program will expire in 2029, Maytree says. What is needed is a permanent benefit to ensure stability for tenants, a benefit large enough to meet people’s needs, available to all those with low incomes regardless of the source of income or housing situation, easy to apply for, integrated into social assistance systems, and designed by not just the federal, provincial and municipal governments but also those who will benefit from the program.
Such a benefit would be particularly useful if the Trump tariffs cause job losses that could result in people losing their homes for lack of income.