Housing model broken for people on fixed incomes

‘You work yourself into an early grave ... trying to make ends meet’

Niagarans on the Ontario Disability Support Program are facing mounting pressures from escalating housing costs and food prices.

People on fixed incomes are finding it harder to get by each month, which can lead to anxiety-induced panic and fear of ending up homeless.

“You lose all hope of trying to get anywhere, you cry, you don’t sleep at night,” said Tina, who doesn’t want her last name used.

Since the beginning of the year inflation has risen more than eight per cent, coupled with increased rents. More people have become dependant on soup kitchens and food banks to eat.

Shrinkflation — product sizes shrink but prices remain the same or climb — is also taking a toll, said Niagara Falls New Democrat MPP Wayne Gates.

“You see containers are a lot smaller than they used to be, particularly certain soups,” he said. “They decrease the product, but not the price and, quite frankly, the price has gone up.“

A single person on ODSP receives about $1,170 a month to pay rent, food, cellphone bills and any incidentals, including medicines not covered.

Patricia Baker, an ODSP recipient, said for a two-bedroom apartment in Niagara Falls, where she is looking, rent is about $2,100 a month, something she cannot afford with her monthly income.

“The cheapest I’ve found for a two-bedroom in Niagara Falls is $1,850 plus hydro,” she said.

Rent increases, between when one tenant moves out and another moves in, have increased drastically over the past few years. Known as vacancy decontrol, property owners can increase rents to market value after long-term renters vacate.

With a wait-list for rent-gearedto-income housing in the region at about 16 years, people like Denise Wood, a 59-year-old ODSP recipient, are trying to make do waiting for the call from Niagara Regional Housing saying it has a place available.

“What you do is you bypass your ODSP, you work yourself into an early grave because you’re trying to make ends meet,” said Wood.

Tina has forgone ODSP in search of a job, hopefully, to have a better chance of affording things she needs. But she is finding even with a full-time job as a housekeeper she can’t afford much more than on government assistance.

Baker has applied to more than 50 apartments over the past week, and said she has only heard back from a couple. When she mentions ODSP she never hears back, or a co-signer is required, she said.

“To have somebody co-sign you, it’s like pulling teeth.”

The Ontario government recently announced it would be increasing ODSP rates by five per cent effective September, which equates to about $60 extra per month.

Said Gates, “We’ve been calling for a 20 per cent raise of ODSP rates and then doubling it within a year.”

He said demand for aid in the community is so great that organizations such as Project Share are having a hard time keeping up.

Gates said more affordable housing must be built, not just in Niagara, but throughout the province to keep up with demand and stagnating wages.

“Unaffordability is a crisis. We were opposed to the 2.5 per cent rent increase, people cannot afford to pay any higher rents,” Gates added.

“When you’re asking somebody to pay $1,400 for a one-bedroom or $1,900 for a two-bedroom, and then on top of that they’re increasing that by 2.5 per cent, how do you expect to afford it. It really doesn’t make sense.”

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Finding an affordable place to live is a major challenge for Ontario Disability Support Plan recipient Patricia Baker.