Raise the Hammer

Bullshit. ODSP singles get screwed over way more than families do, with a rental allowance maximum of 479 dollars/mo. You can't even get a bachelor apt in cheap Brantford for less than 625.

A family of 2 gets a max allowance for rent of 753, which is a bit more reasonable. You can easily find a 1 bedroom for that if you're a couple and it's not that bad finding a two bedroom, especially in cities like London, where they start at 629/mo. And you ARE allowed to share accomodations, and are supposed to get an allowance that reflects ONLY what you actually pay up to your maximum, PROVIDED YOU CAN OFFER SOME PROOF that that is what you pay. Without proof, yes, they may assume you pay 1/2...but if you are renting 2/3 available bedrooms and another adult is renting only one, who is going to assume they are paying half but not getting use of half? Easily appealed. 4

Couples have a different allowance than a unit of two other family members because it is ASSUMED that they will be sharing a bedroom, and thus have a lower rent to pay, which a parent and child will require 2 bedrooms, at a higher cost. Even then, if their respective disabilities require they have a bedroom each they can appeal for additional funds, just as parents with a disabled child requiring a separate bedroom can appeal for extra rental allowance.

Some of these assumptions are only in place to try to stop people shacking up with someone who is working while still getting their full benefits like a single with no other support.

Welfare and ODSP suck to be on, there's no doubt, but lets not make out it is worse than it actually is. Unless you have a worker who is an asshole and don't know how to appeal anything, it's not that bad for families and couples.

What I'm not looking forward to is the day that my youngest child moves out, which is the day I will go from humble but relative comfort to cramped and dismal basement squalor... unless I can meet someone to have a live in relationship with.