Friday, December 21st, 2012 @ 10:45AM

Our current Liberal government has made clear its commitment to building a strong social safety net in which Ontario’s most vulnerable can put their trust. For nine years, ground has been gained in the struggle against poverty and helping those in need. But more work needs doing, and it is our government’s responsibility to help those too often overlooked.

The goals of our social policy must be permanent, and our work temporary – not the other way around. Anyone seeking assistance should not feel it is a hole from which they see no prospects, but rather a short-term bridge to a better future.

Where we have lost past partnerships, such as with affordable housing, we must innovate and find new sources of funding. Where important benefits might be lost, such as when a family has started on a path away from assistance, we should help shield them from burdensome and fleeting new costs. If we hope to finish reforming our system, these and other challenges must be acknowledged and tackled, with our priority being a renewed approach to social policy.

Developmental Services

Ontario boasts a wide range of services and support systems for persons with developmental disabilities. Over the past half-century, we have seen these services evolve from institutional-based care, to community and residential supports, and increasingly to direct supports for individuals and their families.

Although significant steps have been taken to transform the current system and provide it with needed resources, many Ontarians with developmental disabilities and their families continue to find the system challenging and face long wait times.

A crucial period for any family is the transition to adulthood by a child or young adult with a developmental disability. A large range of services and supports focused on children are no longer available and, in many cases, young adults face unacceptably long wait times for services.

To sufficiently address these challenges, more must be done to continue and expedite the transformation of our developmental services system to better support families and persons with developmental disabilities begin their adult journey. Additional effort needs to focus on:

• Better and earlier planning and coordination between Ministries to ensure transition between child and adult support systems is as seamless as possible;
• Developing an action plan to address wait lists and ensure that urgent cases requiring a higher level of service are given appropriate priority;
• Working with service providers to create more options for people with developmental disabilities and their families, empowering them to make decisions that are in the best interests of their loved ones;
• Renewing our focus on respite care,to support families who dedicate their lives to supporting their loved ones.

Affordable & Supportive Housing

We know that many adults with developmental and physical disabilities benefit greatly from being connected to and interacting with the community they live in. Such benefits are even more pronounced when they have access to periodic in-home medical supports to assist them with the activities of daily living.

Unfortunately, too many of our most vulnerable citizens still have difficulty accessing the range of supports that make this kind of assisted living possible.

We also know that there is significant demand for supportive, affordable housing. The province cannot meet this demand alone. That is why it is essential to create new and innovative partnerships to meet these increasing demands and reduce existing wait lists. In order to better address these challenges, emphasis must be placed on:

• Creating new integrated supportive housing models as a way to assist individuals to live in communities that allow them to connect and contribute to the world around them while maintaining their independence;
• Launching a new housing initiative that brings together our social service agencies and private sector partners to find creative ways to develop supportive and social housing, as has been done in other jurisdictions such as British Columbia and in the United Kingdom;
• Pushing for a larger role from the Federal Government to be a strong partner in funding social housing. At one time, the Federal Government played a significant role in a thriving housing strategy – we need them back at the table as funding partners to help clear waiting lists for affordable housing, and to work with our province on exciting new initiatives.

Social Assistance

Ontario’s social assistance system provides financial support, as well as employment benefits to Ontarians in financial need, including persons with disabilities.

Although significant steps have been taken to transform the system, it is widely recognized that major changes are needed to address the challenges faced by both those receiving assistance, as well as many low-income Ontarians.

As part of Ontario’s poverty reduction strategy, a major review of the system was undertaken, leading to the recent report, Brighter Prospects: Transforming Social Assistance in Ontario. This report showed that, among many significant problems facing the system, there are: growing caseloads; overly complex sets of rules and regulations; and most importantly, ineffective employment supports - particularly for persons with disabilities.

As a system of last resort, we require that individuals exhaust most of their assets in order to qualify for support. With many unemployed Ontarians unable to access Employment Insurance, many are forced into a system that actually hampers their ability to rejoin the workforce and maintain financial sustainability.

Finally, under the current system, recipients of social assistance are able to access certain health benefits while they are in receipt of assistance. Studies have found that fear of losing these benefits can act as a barrier to leaving social assistance – a phenomenon known as the “welfare wall”. Some progress was made when our government extended basic health benefits such as prescription, vision and dental coverage for a period of six months for anyone leaving Ontario Works for employment.

However, these kinds of smaller, incremental steps toward reform of the system are no longer delivering the value that Ontarians and our province need. We must commit to significant, thoughtful reform of Ontario’s social assistance programs, including:

• Expediting reform and transformation of our social assistance system to better support low-income Ontarians and assist them in connecting both to the labour market and the broader community. We will not be afraid to innovate, experiment and adopt global best practices in the search for solutions.
• Designing and implementing a broader range of employment supports that can be tailored to the individual needs of the client. We will remove disincentives to work and place reasonable expectations on people to take the steps needed to rejoin the workforce and achieve financial independence.
• Ensuring that persons with a disability have access to this expanded range of supports, as well some specific to addressing disability-related barriers. We will develop better linkages between employers and persons with disabilities through such measures as the use of employer champions to sell the economic benefits of tapping into this underutilized pool of workers, and the introduction of voluntary hiring benchmarks.
• Working toward the creation of a benefit program outside of social assistance that may act as a loan program for those experiencing short term unemployment who do not meet the asset requirement of Ontario Works. It may also provide an extension of benefits for low income earners who cannot access benefits through any other means.

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Categories: Social Policy, The Plan Forward