[homeles_ot-l] New!!! Improved!!! Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy #2 Coming September 3rd!!

[Linda Lalonde]

Hi Folks,






Please circulate this to your networks.

There hasn't been an 'official' announcement yet but we have it on pretty good authority that the province will release its next five-year Poverty Reduction Strategy next Wednesday morning in Toronto. Sources tell us that Deb Matthews, the Minister responsible for poverty reduction, will announce the PRS at Woodgreen Community Centre some time after 9:30 am. This ties in with the government's promise to produce the Strategy within 60 days of the Legislature being recalled - they're only three days late but it would have been on the long weekend otherwise.

I haven't managed to get a copy (yet) of the PRS but we do have some inkling of what may be in it. This comes from both items that appeared in the budget in July, which has been adopted, and information from people who are aware of some of the content/direction of the PRS. 

The budget included the following:
- the $42M CHPI (Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative) transition money made permanent - this is money for local housing programs that was provided on a one-year, one-shot basis to municipalities to ease the loss of that amount when the province cancelled the CSUMB program and gave all the responsibility and part of the money to municipalities. Ottawa's share is about $9M and it means that we can maintain existing programs that would otherwise have been chopped.
- the Ontario Child Benefit (OCB) will be indexed to inflation - this is good and bad since it guarantees that the OCB won't lose purchasing power to inflation but it means that any increases are based on the current OCB which is too low.
- the minimum wage, which was increased to $11 in July, will be indexed to inflation. Same problem/positive as the OCB.
- a $50M fund will be available over 5 years for municipalities to use on community poverty reduction initiatives. {Important - that's $50M spread over 5 years, not $50M per year for each of 5 years.} The budget didn't have details on how the fund would work so that may be in the new Strategy.
- there was money in the budget for infrastructure projects some of which will go to youth employment and projects with community benefits.
- social assistance rates will increase by 1% and single people without dependants who are on Ontario Works will have the increase topped up so they get $30 more per month.
- $80M over 5 years for housing construction - this is in 'partnership' with other levels of government so don't get too excited. They have rarely spent up to the commitments they've made in the past.
There are other budget items that will affect poverty and low-income residents but these are the primary ones.

Here's some expectations for the new PRS:
- first item of importance is that the new Minister Responsible for Poverty Reduction, Deb Matthews, is also Deputy Premier and President of the Treasury Board. This means that poverty reduction is in the hands of someone with the power to do something including finding funds.
- the other part of that change is that the Poverty Reduction Secretariat has been moved from the Ministry of Children and Youth to the Cabinet Office which brings those bureaucrats into the circle of power and will bring more visibility.
- children will still be an important part of the Strategy, which means there will be continuity for the programs/initiatives from the last PRS, but the new Strategy has more for other demographic groups.
- there will be a lot of new initiatives and the Strategy has been described as 'bold'.
- there will be some items that will roll out at various points over the 5-year life of the Strategy so how and when they are implemented will be something we will need to keep an eye on. 

I don't know yet how the PRS will be formally released - what usually happens is that the Minister announces an initiative at a community location and, as she is speaking, the press releases and backgrounders would be posted on the Ministry site along with the Strategy document. One place it may appear is http://news.ontario.ca/prs/en or you can call your MPP's office and ask where to find it.

The OPRN will be meeting with our provincial partners on Thursday to do some analysis of the new Strategy as well as strategizing on the community role and response so I will report back with the details from those conversations by Friday. I know that, like Ottawa, groups across the province have municipal campaigns on poverty-related issues such as food security, housing, transit, employment & child care and they will be looking to see if the new PRS addresses any of these topics. Not to be lost in this focus on the province is the push for a national anti-poverty strategy which seems distant now but could be more possible in a year's time.

Linda.
 
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.” 
Maya Angelou
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/homeles_ot-l/attachments/20140901/96077109/attachment.html>