Recent changes to Ontario Works concerning locally

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The difference between four and 16 days may not seem like a lot, but Coun. Taylor Briscoe noted in some instances, it could have very serious consequences.

“That's a life-or-death timeline for the women that I work with,” Briscoe said. “It means returning to an abuser. It means returning to homelessness. It means a loss of contact with our front line. … This is something that we really have to address in our community and advocate upwards for that,” she said.

Briscoe made that comment at the Nov. 25 Stratford social services subcommittee meeting after Kim McElroy, director of social services, presented a report on recent changes to how government assistance will be provided in Stratford moving forward.

In 2021, the local Ontario Works office was onboarded into the provincial centralized intake initiative. At that time, a new provincial unit, the Intake and Benefit Administration Unit (IBAU), was established to automate the process of receiving financial assistance to modernize the approach. The intent is to have all applications submitted through the IBAU in the future.

A week prior to the meeting, the department discovered that the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) would be including Stratford in its second pilot rollout of an expanded centralized intake program in which the ministry would be responsible for all initial eligibility decisions, starting on Dec. 16.

In short, as McElroy explained, all current applications through IBAU are now to apply for assistance through the province.

“So, people who apply for social assistance will need to apply online or on the phone for the Ontario Works services,” McElroy said. “We will no longer be available at the local office to take the application. That being said, we are rapidly moving to put computers in the front and use our resources, our current staff, to help individuals who may need assistance so that they are assisted in applying to the province.

“We know there will be some challenges in the early steps of this, but we are working hard to make it a smooth transition and put the clients first for applying for assistance.”

The turnaround for social assistance when it was local was four days. Now that it is handled through the province, it is taking longer, McElroy noted, though did not give a timeframe.

McElroy said there will likely be an increase in emergency applications given the change, and another issue is there is no definition of emergency through the province.

Additionally, her biggest concern is people who have no shelter and are unable to access online services or call to apply for assistance. The department is looking to other municipalities working through the change and are investigating a computer kiosk at their office, but the cost to operate and source that technology is through the city’s budget.

“I think, in hearing our director share that we're bearing a cost to meet the needs of our individuals, … I think that's really concerning,” Briscoe said. “Because that is funding we could use for additional programming, and now we're having to kind of mediate the mess.”