Across Ontario people are sleeping outside or couch-surfing with friends because there is no rental housing they can afford. Staying with a friend is not a long-term solution — it's homelessness waiting to happen, and it breaks up families and stability while the system looks the other way.

Here is the trap, and it has two separate doors — both locked:

Ontario Works is income support, not housing. It pays a monthly amount for basic needs and shelter combined: a maximum of $733 for a single adult, $1,136 for a couple without children. The shelter part alone is capped at just $390 for a single person and $642 for a couple — nowhere near an actual rent. Other income, like a pension, is deducted dollar for dollar. So a household with $1,200 a month in pension income is told it is $64 over the couple maximum — and gets nothing at all. Not a reduced payment. Nothing.

Housing funding is a completely different system — and it can simply run out. The Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit is a portable rent supplement, separate from Ontario Works, meant to bridge the gap between what you can afford and average market rent. But it is referral-only and limited by a fixed allocation — and Oxford County's current allocation has been fully committed. That means even a household that would qualify on paper gets nothing, because the pot is empty. Rent-geared-to-income housing is different again: rent set at roughly 30% of income, but only if a unit actually becomes available, after years on a waitlist. And homelessness-prevention funding is one-time help with arrears or last month's rent — not ongoing rent you can live on.

So Ontario Works says "this is your maximum," housing funding says "we have nothing left to give you," and the rental market says a one-bedroom in Oxford County costs far more than either amount. People fall straight through the gap between those three answers — onto the street, or onto a friend's couch.

A Service Ontario worker told us these assistance amounts have not been looked at since the 1980s. Whether the exact year is the point or not, the result is the same: help priced for a past economy, against rent and food priced for today.

We are asking the Ontario government to:

Re-base Ontario Works rates to today's housing and living costs, and index them every year after that.

Fix the income rules so households just over the current maximums aren't left with zero help and no affordable home.

Restore and increase Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit funding for Oxford County, with public information on local funding and waitlists.

Invest in more rent-geared-to-income and affordable rental housing in Oxford County.

Recognize couch-surfing and temporary stays with friends as housing instability, so people get help before they end up on the street.

No one should have to choose between food and a roof. Sign to tell our MPP and the Ontario government: look at this now, and fix it.

**Online signatures show public support, but they do not count as a formal petition to Ontario's Legislative Assembly (only Federal government recognizes e-petitions). In order for the petition to be presented to Queens Park the petition must be mailed in on paper with signatures. No scans or photocopies are accepted. Below is a link with instructions and three pages of the petition to have signed. Please sign this online petition as well in order to keep MPPs up to date.**

If you want to print a paper copy to gain signatures and mail directly to your MPP, you can click here to download and print the PDF letter.