Media Release (Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty): People on Social Assistance Under Attack by the City of Sudbury

Sudbury, Tuesday, May 21, 2012.  - Five months after the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP) first demanded the Sudbury guidelines regarding the new Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative (CHPI), a copy has finally been released to us.  It is now very clear that Ontario Works (OW), which administers CHPI, and the City, are breaking their January commitment to us regarding the application process and amounts being the same as under the previous provincial Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB)  and that they are instead making massive cuts to exceptional circumstances funding and in discretionary funding for such necessities as beds. These are major attacks on people on social assistance in this city that will only make people`s housing situations and the problems of homelessness in the city even worse.

The CSUMB was the vital housing benefit that allowed people on social assistance to prevent themselves from becoming homeless, to move and start a household and to escape violent and abusive situations. Under the CSUMB people who had already received funding in the last 24 months were entitled to more funding under the “exceptional circumstances” clause if they encountered a flood, fire, bed-bug infestation, domestic violence or another housing or health-related emergency.

The province cut this mandatory benefit on Jan. 1st 2013 but, as a result of protests across the province last fall (including the arrest of the S-CAP 11), moved $42 million in extra funding into CHPI to assist in addressing people’s housing and maintenance needs. While the province intended for these added funds to be used ``to address local needs with respect to housing and homelessness related supports`` Sudbury OW and the City have interpreted this very narrowly under CHPI to almost entirely focus on the prevention of homelessness to the neglect of other housing needs. 

For a single individual OW and the City have cut emergency circumstances funding by $600. The maximum people will now get is $200.  For families with children the cut is even more drastic since they will only get $300 instead of the possible $1,500 they used to get and this will only be for household items. Individuals fleeing abusive relationships will only receive a possible extra $200 and families with children fleeing such situations will only receive an extra $300.  “These cuts are devastating and will leave people living in poverty without any means of replacing or starting up a household.  It will lead to an increase in homelessness and hardship and will further threaten the health of people on social assistance. It doesn’t matter if you have just lost everything you own or are fleeing violence or have just been released from an institution.  The maximum you will get is $200 -$300. This is arbitrary, mean spirited and punitive” said SCAP member, Clarissa Lassaline.   

                   
Meanwhile, cities such as Toronto in their Housing Stabilization Fund (which is how they distribute CHPI funding), recognizing the needs of people in exceptional circumstances, have increased the amounts for exceptional circumstances funding. They recognize that even if people have received funding in the last 24 months if they encounter exceptional circumstances they can still receive up to the same amounts that were covered under the CSUMB – that is $800 for an individual or $1,500 for a family (see below and also go to http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/cd/bgrd/backgroundfile-57328.pdf). As Gary Kinsman of S-CAP stated “Why is it that an individual on social assistance in Toronto can get a full $800 for exceptional circumstances funding while in Sudbury they have to try to get their needs met on a miserable $200?  S-CAP will continue to demand that OW and the City of Sudbury offer the same amount of support as places like Toronto.”

Meanwhile the City is maintaining low arbitrary caps on associated discretionary items like beds. While S-CAP managed to get this amount of funding raised from a miserable $200 to $300 these arbitrary caps are preventing people from meeting their basic needs. Meanwhile in Toronto single individuals are eligible for $800 for household furnishings and for $1,500 if they are a family with children for household items. 
S-CAP is demanding of OW and the City that they restore the exceptional circumstances funding under CHPI to a possible $800 for individuals and $1,500 for families and to remove the low caps on funding they have placed on items like beds. Today we are approaching Luisa Valle, Director of Social Services for the City, and Catherine Matheson, General Manager, Community Development for the City about this (see attached letter). S-CAP is also approaching city councillors and City Council about this.
For more information contact:  Clarissa Lassaline -- 705-688-0987; Gary Kinsman – 705-523-2205; S-CAP Phone -- 249-878-7227