‘Poverty Picnic’ rallies a call to increase rental and social assistance rates in Ontario

Affordable housing advocates will hold “poverty picnics” in Brampton and across Ontario to urge the province to double social assistance rates.

The rallies will see members of housing activist group ACORN camp out in front of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) offices next week in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Kitchener, and Brampton.

Dubbed “poverty picnics,” social assistance recipients will set up picnic blankets, empty plates, and lawn chairs as “a visual testament to how current rates keep people unable to afford food and other necessities,” ACORN says.

A single person on ODSP receives a maximum of $1,408 per month while OW recipients get $733 per month – rates ACORN says need to at least double, and that current rates “leave people hungry and unable to afford basic necessities.”

Nearly 60 per cent of food bank users report ODSP or OW as their primary source of income, ACORN says.

“By the time you pay all of your bills, you’re broke for the rest of the month,” ACORN member Mia Staios said in a release to INsauga.com. “After I pay my bills on the first, I have only $100 left, and I’m forced to rely on the food bank for the rest of the month.”

ACORN says the Ontario Conservative Party was the only major party in this past election that did not publicly support doubling social assistance rates, and the group is calling on Queen’s Park to immediately:

● Raise ODSP/OW rates by at least double.
● Index rates to inflation permanently.
● Match the housing allowance to market rent by city.
● End spousal income and benefits clawbacks.

ODSP recipients received a 2.8 per cent increase in core rates in July, but ACORN says that’s “the lowest annual increase since the provincial government started inflation-based adjustments in 2022.”

A recent report from ACORN found renters are dealing with unaffordable rents, cockroaches, mould and other property issues, and are getting less than their money’s worth in Mississauga and Brampton.

ACORN’s Poverty Picnic in Brampton will start at 2 p.m. at the Brampton ODSP and Employment Office at 370 Main St. N.