[homeles_ot-l] Economic cost of poverty in Ontario - report out today!

[Lynne Browne]

FYI
 This is very important data and costing for all who work to help
homeless people and those at risk of losing their home. It was reported in
Metro Ottawa today. If the attached is too large it can be download at
HYPERLINK
"http://www.oafb.ca/assets/pdfs/CostofPoverty.pdf"http://www.oafb.ca/assets/
pdfs/CostofPoverty.pdf 

 

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)
147 Besserer Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7 
HYPERLINK "mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca"lbrowne at ysb.on.ca,  613-241-7913 ext 205

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca  

 

Excerpt

 

THE COST OF POVERTY

 

Poverty has a price tag for all Ontarians.

• Poverty has a significant cost for governments. The federal and Ontario
government

are losing at least $10.4 billion to $13.1 billion a year due to poverty, a
loss equal

to between 10.8 to 16.6 per cent of the provincial budget.

• Poverty has a cost for every household in Ontario. In real terms, poverty
costs

every household in the province from $2,299 to $2,895 every year.

• Poverty has a very significant total economic cost in Ontario. When both
private

and public (or social) costs are combined, the total cost of poverty in
Ontario is equal

to 5.5 to 6.6 per cent of Ontario’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The cost of poverty is reflected in remedial, intergenerational, and

opportunity costs.

• The remedial costs of poverty related to health care and crime are
substantial.

In Ontario, poverty-induced costs related to health care have an annual
public cost

of $2.9 billion. The national added cost to health care budgets is much
greater, at

$7.6 billion per year. The poverty-induced costs related to crime in Ontario
have a

relatively small annual public cost of $0.25 to $0.6 billion, split between
federal and

provincial governments.

• The annual cost of child or intergenerational poverty is very high. If
child poverty

were eliminated, the extra income tax revenues nationally would be between
$3.1

billion and $3.8 billion, while for Ontario, the additional (federal and
provincial) taxes

would amount to $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion. The total economic cost
(private and social)

of child poverty Ontario is $4.6 to 5.9 billion annually.

• Opportunity costs or lost productivity due to poverty has a great economic
cost.

Federal and provincial governments across Canada lose between $8.6 billion
and $13

billion in income tax revenue to poverty every year; in the case of Ontario,
Ottawa and

Queen’s Park lose a combined $4 billion to $6.1 billion.

   _____  

From: Rob Rainer [mailto:rob at napo-onap.ca] 
Sent: November 20, 2008 1:47 PM
To: Rob Rainer
Subject: Timely and important new report on the economic cost of poverty in
Ontario

 

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Today, the Ontario Association of Food Banks released an important and very
timely new report on the economic cost of poverty in Ontario.  This is a
first for Ontario and possibly for any Canadian jurisdiction, i.e., to put a
price tag on the cost of poverty.  The report finds that the economic cost
of poverty in Ontario comes to some $32 to $38 billion per year (5.5 to 6.6%
of provincial GDP).  The report emerges just a couple of weeks in advance of
the highly anticipated release of the Ontario government’s action strategy
on poverty.

 

To view or download the 30+ page report: HYPERLINK
"http://www.oafb.ca/assets/pdfs/CostofPoverty.pdf"http://www.oafb.ca/assets/
pdfs/CostofPoverty.pdf.  I note the visually impaired may not be able to
access PDF files.

 

Congratulations to the Ontario Association of Food Banks for the publication
of this important contribution to public policy debate on poverty.

Rob Rainer
Executive Director/directeur général
National Anti-Poverty Organization / l'Organisation nationale anti-pauvreté
1210 - 1 rue Nicholas Street
Ottawa ON K1N 7B7 Canada
tél 613.789.0096; toll free/sans frais 1.800.810.1076
fax 613.244-5777
rob at napo-onap.ca; www.napo-onap.ca 

Everybody should be guaranteed a decent basic income. A rich country...can
well afford to keep everybody out of poverty.
John Kenneth Galbraith


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