The Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board is letting the province know what needs to be done to improve social assistance for local families.
In a report submitted to the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario, the Thunder Bay DSSAB made recommendations in four key areas they feel would help Thunder Bay families relying on social assistance.
The first is to deliver Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program out of the DSSAB office.
Board chair Robert Katajamaki said there’s a fragmentation in the delivery of Ontario Works and ODSP and basing them both out of the local DSSAB office would make it a one-stop shop for people.
The board is also recommending the province provide health benefits to low income families, specifically drug and dental coverage.
Katajamaki said that was an issue they heard loud and clear when canvassing the community.
“It would be wise for us to recommend that because then people would have more security,” he said.
The third recommendation is to base the level of assistance people receive for food and shelter on local markets, not by a province-wide rate.
“In Thunder Bay we’re finding people have to make choices because the rental component of the Ontario Works is not sufficient to cover the market rents that are being charged now. People at the end of the month have to choose whether they want to eat or pay their rent,” said Katajamaki.
“If they choose to pay the rent then they can’t eat properly and there are a lot of families that are involved in that,” he added, noting that’s when the use of food banks in the city rises.
The last recommendation is for the creation of an employment program that would subsidize 100 per cent of work placements for Ontario Works recipients at not-for-profit organizations.
Katajamaki said it would be similar to summer student and internship programs the federal and provincial government already have in place.
The recommendations were selected after gathering input from the community and staff and board members of DSSAB.
Katajamaki said they made the presentation to the Minister of Community and Social Services during the Ontario Good Roads Association Conference last month.
The Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario is expected to release their recommendations to the provincial government in June.
DSSAB’s acting CAO Bill Bradica confirmed to tbnewswatch.com that CAO Melissa Harrison is on a leave of absence.
