Ontario Raises Income Cap for ODSP Recipients

The province has significantly increased the amount of money that Ontario Disability Assistance Program (ODSP) recipients can earn before their benefits are impacted. However, the provision of funds to those who cannot enter the labor force will not change.

The pledge was made in the state’s fall economic statement on Monday afternoon.

The document says the government will increase the monthly amount an ODSP individual can earn before dropping profits from $200 to $1,000. After that, for every $1 he receives that the ODSP recipient receives, its profit is reduced by 25 cents.

Prior to this change, payouts were reduced by 50 cents for every $1 earned after $200.

“These changes will allow about 25,000 people currently in the workforce to maintain more income, and potentially bring another 25,000 into the workforce,” the economic statement said. .

Based on these statistics, the new changes will affect about 10% of the state’s nearly half a million ODSP recipients.

For those unable to work, little has changed.

“I understand they want to do what they can to keep helping people with disabilities enter the workforce…but what about those who can’t?” ODSP recipient Ann Jensen told CTV News after the announcement. Spoke to Toronto. “We are stuck here.”

The state increased the ODSP rate by 5% as part of an election campaign earlier this year, tying future increases from January 2023 to inflation. But Jensen called the rise “almost insulting.”

“The 5% increase was a joke,” she said.

Jensen said he cannot receive the full 5% increase.

“Nobody can live like this,” she said. “If I can’t pay rent or food…it’s very frustrating.”

ODSP recipients currently earn about $1,227 a month if they receive the full 5% increase. This equates to about $60 a day and just over $300 a week.

According to a new report by the Ontario Living Wage Network, people living in the GTA need to earn at least $23.15 an hour to “make ends meet and enjoy modest participation in the civic and cultural community.” That’s it.

Ontario’s minimum wage is $15.50 an hour, or about $124 a day.

Proponents have long called for doubling the ODSP rate. All parties except Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have made this pledge in state elections.

Back in July, the Income Security Advocacy Center (ISAC) sent a letter signed by 200 supporters calling for doubling the ODSP rate, ending the current rate that has been frozen since 2018 due to inflation and rising costs. He said the rate was no longer sustainable. .

In a statement issued Monday, ISAC said the government had missed a “significant opportunity to reinvest surplus dollars in increasing social assistance rates, social programs and programs that protect and assist low-income workers.” said.

“Enabling ODSP customers to retain more of the dollars they’ve already earned would go a long way for those who can work,” ISAC senior policy analyst Devorah Kobluk said in a statement. Stated.

“Unfortunately, today’s announcement leaves even more people who depend on (Ontario Works) behind. I am forced to try.”

Ontario Works recipients are not eligible for the 5 percent increase in benefits.

Finance Minister Peter Bethrenfarby told reporters on Monday afternoon that he was “very proud” of the fact that the government had raised the income ceiling for ODSP recipients. He called the decision to tie future rises to inflation “significant”.

He also said raising the income ceiling would “encourage people with disabilities who want to work more hours and increase their participation in the workforce.”

The Center for Abilities, an organization founded by former PC minister Christine Elliott, said the government’s new proposal was a “game changer.”

Interim CEO Mark Wafer said there are incentives for those on the ODSP to work because of the income cap.

“Now the Ontario government has changed that in a very important way,” he said. “It’s about lifting people with disabilities out of poverty, giving them the opportunity to enrich their eyes and gain financial security.”

Wafer said the policy would affect the lives of thousands of Ontarians.

The fall economic statement was released on the same day that Toronto’s food banks reported they were in “crisis.”

About 190,000 people sought help last month, according to the Daily Bread Food Bank.