By Josh Casey
UPDATE:The deadline has been extended to April 19th, due to the ice storm.
KAWARTHA LAKES- Lindsay’s Aaron Hughes was on Ontario Works until he joined the Basic Income Pilot Project and he says he is already noticing an improvement in his health.
“I’m getting a lot more food out of it. I can budget for food that I really like [for example] frozen dinners and stuff that I can cook,” he exclaimed. “I started eating more just recently, and now I’m feeling better.” Which he attributes to the pilot project.
The Basic Income Pilot Project began in October for Lindsay as part of Ontario’s experiment with a basic income, a monthly, no-strings-attached payment of up to $1,400 for people living in poverty. Those with disabilities receive an additional $500 a month.
The project is also geared towards people on other programs such as Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
Before the basic income experiment, Hughes was spending most of the money for food on fast food. Until recently, Hughes was only eating one meal a day. “It’s like I trained myself to eat less, so I have more money.”Now, he’s planning on speaking with a dietician and taking cooking lessons to better his nutrition and live a healthier lifestyle.
The three-year pilot project, which includes the Hamilton and Thunder Bay areas is testing whether unconditional cash support can boost health, education, and housing for people on social assistance or earning low wages.
Data collected from the pilot will determine whether having a basic income may help people living on low incomes better meet their basic needs while improving outcomes in food security, stress and anxiety, mental health, health and healthcare usage, housing stability, education and training, and employment and labour market participation.
Currently, for a single person, Ontario Works pays a maximum $721 per month and Ontario Disability Support Program dishes out $1,151 per month. The pilot project is $1,415 per month.
After his mom decided to move from Lindsay, Hughes seized the opportunity to live on his own and stay near the amenities that the town has to offer. He’s been on the Ontario Works program for about two years. Hughes, now 22, is using his basic income payments to save up for a bicycle followed by a car so he can get a job that he enjoys. Stable housing is his next priority. “I want to get into a nicer, more secure place to live and that’s really all I’m thinking about these days.”
Before joining the program in October, Hughes was just scraping by on around $700 a month in basic needs allowance from Ontario Works, the province’s welfare program for people without disabilities, with $500 of that going towards rent. That left Hughes with only $200 in spending money.
But under the basic income experiment, Hughes is receiving $1,290 per month. “Back then I was literally holding it all and spending super little,” he stated.
When Hughes was on OW, he did have a job during that time at a manufacturing company, but his diet wasn’t healthy which led to him leaving that employer.“I can’t imagine myself getting a job in the mall for example where it’s people oriented … I’ve got some issues with social anxiety,” he added.
For Hughes, he enjoys computers and turned that into a small business when he was on OW, something that he continues to do for extra cash and his passion for the machines.
Information collected from the three test sites will guide future provincial policy on how to better support all Ontarians living in poverty. The province is among several areas in the world experimenting with the idea of a basic income, including Finland, which began a two-year pilot last January.
Rod Sutherland, Director of Human Services for the City of Kawartha lakes said those who are accepted into the pilot project from OW or ODSP keep their benefits. “If they go off to the basic income program, the only benefits that they retain are their Ontario drug benefit coverage for OW and ODSP recipients can retain drug benefit coverage and the OSDP dental coverage.”
Adults in the three test sites age 18 to 64 with incomes under $34,000 before taxes and deductions, or couples with incomes under $48,000, are eligible. The income cut-off for individuals with disabilities is $46,000.
If participants find employment or get a better job, their basic income payments are reduced by 50 cents for every dollar earned until they are no longer financially eligible. But unlike social assistance, which is adjusted monthly, basic income payments are calculated once a year, based on the participant’s previous year’s income tax return.
The Ontario Basic Income Pilot will provide participants up to $16,989 per year for a single person and $24,027 per year for a couple, but minus 50 percent of any earned income. People with a disability will additionally receive up to $500 per month.
Project administrators can make mid-year adjustments if participants lose a job or go back to school, change a living arrangement or become disabled.
Those who made the switch from other programs to the pilot project will be able to re-apply when the project gears down.
“Part of the design and I understand from the ministry is that the ramp down of the three-year pilot that they’ll be looking into that quite a bit in terms of making sure it’s as seamless as possible,” he said. “Ontario Works is a relatively fast application process from people contacting us to eligibility is usually about a week to 10 days, so around the time that the pilot is ending, they can reapply … to verify eligibility again. ODSP is a little bit different because it has two components. It has the financial eligibility and then it also has the disability adjudication. The province has said all along that people who go off ODSP for the pilot will not have to go through that re-adjudication process at the end of the pilot … it’s just that financial eligibility [that they’ll have to reapply to].”
There are still spots available for the project. To enroll for the pilot project, click here for more details. Enrollment for the Basic Income Pilot Project will end on April 19, 2018.
