THUNDER BAY — Social assistance rates haven't kept up with rent in the city, pushing an increasing number of people into homelessness and the shelter system.
That's according to Shelter House executive director Brendan Carlin. The local homeless shelter took to social media this week with a campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the economic reasons some people become homeless.
“We just want to give people a sense of what people are facing who are on ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) or other supports and how difficult it is to actually make ends meet,” said Carlin.
The social media campaign includes graphics comparing ODSP and Ontario Works (OW) rates to the average rent for a bachelor apartment in the city, $823 a month.
According to Shelter House, paying that amount of rent would leave an individual getting ODSP with only $545 a month for all other living expenses, while someone relying on OW would exceed their month budget for all expenses just to pay rent.
“Many of our people that stay here or are in our transitional housing are on ODSP and can't afford to live. When rent goes up around the city, ODSP doesn't go up.
“It becomes even tougher for people to get by and as you'll see this winter, that leads to increasing numbers in the shelters,” he said.
Although there are programs to help find housing, there isn’t enough housing and the rent is too high for many of them, Carlin said.
“There's a struggle out there because even if you have your ODSP, you might have other costs as well.”
Carlin said his message to the public is not to stigmatize people who are just trying to get by and survive.
“Just being homeless itself is a traumatic experience for one night, let alone a month or two or longer. These are people that are trying to get by, they're in survival mode constantly.
“I do believe that as a society we should be doing whatever we can to help our most vulnerable get back on their feet or provide them the basic necessities of life,” he said.
Carlin said the social assistance rates are not high enough, and Shelter House would welcome any rise in ODSP or other supports.
