Anti-poverty town hall blasts provincial cuts to social services

[guest]

OTTAWA — Homeless and unable to save up for first and last month’s rent on his meagre Ontario Disability Support Program cheque, Matt has been couch-surfing for nearly three months to stay off Ottawa’s streets. He knows there’s a program called the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit, an emergency fund that acts as a lifeline for those on the verge of homelessness. But he also knows the provincial government has it slated for elimination at the end of 2012. Instead, 50 per cent of the funding for that program will go directly to municipalities for housing and homelessness programs — a move critics said will ultimately put more people out on the streets as the reduced funds support a larger pool of people in need.

更多...