25 in 5 PARTNER BACKGROUNDER: PRS KEY MESSAGES & ANALYSIS

December 4, 2008

The 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction is a multi-sectoral coalition of more than 350 provincial and Toronto-based organizations and individuals working to eliminate poverty.

The Network came together because poverty reduction makes social and economic sense and because poverty reduction is possible. It all starts with a plan.

KEY MESSAGES

The 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction welcomes the Ontario Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategyannounced today.

This Poverty Reduction Strategy represents the crucial foundation on which we can build action to prevent and reduce poverty in Ontario.

Ontario is now turning a corner on poverty. From the mid-1990s we saw a decade where government believed they could make political gains on the backs of the poor with big cutbacks in social assistance and support programs. Today the conversation has changed.

Tens of thousands of people across Ontario called on the government to commit to a plan to reduce poverty reduction by 25% within the next 5 years. We asked for a plan with targets, timelines, and accountability. The politicians have heard us – we have that plan.

We applaud the Government for making this commitment during tough economic times.

This government has recognized that doing nothing about poverty costs money.  It costs Ontario at least $10 billion every year that our government fails to act.

A plan to prevent and reduce poverty is the right thing to do in this economic downturn.

The good news is that the stimulus package needed to kick start Ontario’s struggling economy is rooted in precisely the investments Ontario needs to make in poverty reduction: infrastructure investments in affordable housing and child care, as well as investing in low-income Ontarians, so that everyone can play their part in riding out the economic storm.

By securing this commitment we have guaranteed that the issues of low income Ontarians will not be ignored in the next five provincial budgets. We know now that poverty reduction will be central feature in the next five budgets.

We have a lot of work to be done to make today’s commitment a reality. The next step is to secure sufficient investment in the spring budget. The 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction will continue our work and hold the government’s feet to the fire.

As the plan moves into implementation we will keep working and pushing to ensure that: work lifts you out of poverty; we achieve dignity for people on social assistance; and we get progress on affordable housing, early learning & child care, and better education and training.

ANALYSIS

25 in 5’s Five Tests for Success

At a gathering of 350 low-income people, anti-poverty activists, policy experts, and advocates in October 2008, the 25 in 5 Network produced Five Tests for Success of Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

We determined that these five items were key to forming the basis of the government’s strategy, laying a strong foundation for both immediate and longer-term action on poverty reduction.

So how does the government’s plan do against the Five Tests?

TEST # 1: A target to reduce poverty in Ontario by 25% within the next five years.

By adopting a target to reduce child and family poverty by 25% in the next 5 years, the government has set an achievable target and timeline that provides direction for policy implementation, both now and in the future.

A 25% reduction means reducing child poverty from 12% to 9%, lifting 80,000 kids out of poverty.

This commitment is the most ambitious and targeted plan in Canada today.

We consider this to be a start, not an end, to setting targets. We expect that as progress is made on child poverty, we will also turn our sights on all other Ontarians, and build new targets for all our population based on our success.

This target and timeline would be the first step in a longer-term plan to reduce poverty by 50% in ten years, with an eye to making Ontario Canada’s first poverty-free zone.

TEST # 2: A clear way to measure progress – a solid lead income measure combined with a set of additional indicators.

We can’t reduce poverty unless we agree on how to measure it. But until now, no government in Canada has adopted any of the many commonly-used measurement tools.

With the adoption of the Low Income Measure (LIM, 50% of the media income), we now have a firm basis for measuring and tracking progress on reducing poverty in Ontario.

LIM is the major international standard for poverty measurement, which means we can track our progress in relation to other countries around the world that are also working towards reducing and eliminating poverty for their own populations.

And while income is one measure, it doesn’t capture other effects of poverty on people, their families, and their communities.

That is why we welcome targets in the areas of health, education, housing, and deprivation.

Indicators that measure progress in other areas like employment and income security programs are also needed.

And we will also continue to call for the development of indicators required to ensure progress for population-specific groups, like newcomers, racialized groups, women, Aboriginal people, and people with disabilities.

TEST #3: Policy specifics

A poverty reduction strategy must identify specific, clear commitments in three priority areas, as outlined in 25 in 5’s Founding Declaration:

• sustaining employment

• livable incomes

• strong and supportive communities

Here, we provide an analysis of six key areas included in Ontario’s plan.

Social assistance reform

The government has committed to continuing to make progress on improving the incomes of low-income Ontarians including those on social assistance, albeit the plan falls short on details.

We need action on this front sooner rather than later.

It’s hard to get on your feet and think about tomorrow when you’re not even sure if you’re going to fill your stomach today. The incomes of people on social assistance simply cannot stay at their current subsistence level. We can no longer expect poor Ontarians to live on social assistance budgets that are practically impossible to survive on.

The government also announced it will undertake a review of social assistance with the goal of reducing barriers and increasing opportunity. The review will seek to better align social assistance and other key programs with a particular focus on people trying to move into employment from social assistance.

25 in 5 will work with our government to immediately launch Ontario’s review of social assistance as was announced in the poverty reduction strategy – because the changes to social assistance that were implemented in the 1990s are out of date for today’s economic and political reality.

Too many Ontarians receiving social assistance face arbitrary rules that deny them help when they need it. Too many have been left to live in harsh and desperate situations. Too many who want to get ahead are held back by a system that is good at making rules but bad at keeping up with the times. If we don’t act fast to fix our welfare system, it will not weather an economic recession, and we will all pay the price for it.

As an initial step, signaling the direction of the government’s promised social assistance review, the plan will immediately change three rules which function as barriers for people on social assistance.

First, the plan pledges to fully exempt the earnings of any person on social assistance participating in post-secondary education. The second extends the upfront child care benefits to allow parents to continue their participation in employment and employment assistance activities. The third change is an extension of the time to request internal reviews of social assistance decisions from ten to thirty days.

But let’s be clear: Transforming our social assistance system is not just about making assistance more humane, it is also about making sure the system is there for Ontarians to develop the skills and vocational training they need to escape poverty permanently. This isn’t just about tinkering with a few rules; it’s about re-imagining a system that helps Ontarians transition from tough times to economic independence.

Because the system that is there now has failed to deliver. It has kept opportunities out of reach for the very people who are looking for a helping hand. So the focus has to be on helping people reconnect with mainstream supports, making investments in skills development, and building a foundation for success.

It’s time to break the cycle of poverty. The time is right to bring some humanity and fairness to Ontario’s welfare system – to be there when people need it. We all benefit from a decent welfare system that breaks the cycle of poverty and actually helps people get ahead.

Housing review: Bring affordable housing back to Ontario

One of the most basic elements of building success is to ensure everyone can wake up in a safe home that’s affordable and doesn’t eat up your food budget.

One of the most potentially promising moves from today’s announcement is that the 10-year, 60 billion dollar infrastructure plan scheduled to be implemented in 2009 will include social housing.  However, the plan was short on details about when investments will begin that will lead to shovels hitting the ground on new units.

The poverty reduction plan did name $500 million in loans for social housing infrastructure and 100 million dollars for social housing repairs announced originally announced in March 2008. It also includes a new commitment of 5 million dollars annually in the rent bank program.

Further action was put on hold until Minister Watson’s Affordable housing Review begins its work in the sping of 2009.

That is too long to wait.  Affordable housing must be a key component of an economic stimulus package and there is no time to waste on taking action to build new units.

We will be looking for immediate investments that will create jobs, stimulate local economies, and create infrastructure that will help us fight poverty in the long term.

We will also continue to press for new affordable housing units in the order of 8,000 units annually in the poverty reduction strategy along with calls for a new housing benefit for all low-income people in order to deal with affordability as well as the supply issue in social housing.

Labour market initiatives

Ontario will never fully resolve the problem of poverty until the labour market provides fair pay and creates safe working conditions. Turning the corner on working poverty means recognizing that hard work must lead to a decent living.

Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Plan promised the following:

• The strategy will invest $10 million to hire new employment standards enforcement officers. They will conduct investigations to ensure that vulnerable workers will get the money they are owed.

• The government is committing to legislation to better regulate temporary agencies to make sure that people working are treated fairly

• The government is committed to continuing to make progress on the minimum wage, which will reach $10.25 by 2010.

These are all crucial steps in the right direction.  Some of the work on reducing poverty for Ontario’s working poor began when the government scheduled a series of increases to the minimum wage – but there is a lot more work to be done to address working poverty.

The next steps for this plan are to develop a “Good Jobs Strategy”, that continues to raise the minimum wage and recognizes the critical role of collective representation in protecting good jobs.

Early learning and child care

It is positive that early learning has a prominent place on this government’s agenda.

Today’s announcement leaves a placeholder for the important work of Charles Pascal to recommend ways for the expansion of early learning in Ontario and thereby freeing up resources to expand quality child care.

But it will be key to act quickly on implementation of the recommendations and to expand access to quality child care to more and more families right away.

Expansion of spaces is one key component of an economic stimulus package – it creates jobs, it allows parents to go out and work, and it leaves behind an infrastructure that is crucial in the fight against poverty. After all, families cannot work or get a better education, or upgrade their skills if quality affordable child care is not available.

Population specific action

Today's plan recognizes that poverty does not impact every one of us in the same way. It proposes a number of “person-centred approaches” that will examine existing programs and services and their impact differently to different populations.

This is a positive development.

We know that poverty hits certain communities a lot hard than others: Aboriginal people, racialized communities, newcomers, women and people with disabilities all disproportionately bear the impacts of poverty.

It is regrettable that racialized communities are not explicitly mentioned in the strategy and we must continue to press for action in this area.

This is an important point in how we move forward. We must build in targeted strategies within the broader plan that can address the specific realities of different social groups.

A commitment to review how policies are currently affecting specific groups and a commitment to act quickly are a key step to moving forward and we need to act on these commitments right away, in consultation with those who are most affected.

Community Initiatives

25 in 5 has promoted the importance of providing funding support to local community initiatives that will continue to engage people in the poverty reduction effort. We have specifically asked for a community opportunities fund and a community initiatives fund.

The first of these is intended to support local communities in the policy development and implementation process; the second was to support the development of local best practices and initiatives that focused on poverty reduction.

Today’s announcement indicates an investment of $5 million annually in a Community Opportunities Fund to encourage neighbourhood revitalization through partnerships between local business, governments, volunteers, community agencies and most importantly, local residents.

Federal partnership

Today’s announcement that Ontario intends to become a national leader in reducing the number of poor people in our province is a direct challenge to our federal government.

The federal government must be part of the solution on poverty.  Quebec, the province that has led the way on reducing poverty in the past decade, has put federal resources to good use in building child care, housing and income security programs.

Ontario should have taken our neighbour's cue a long time ago. But what is new, and where Ontario deserves some credit, is that the province has said that it will not wait to do its part. In fact, the government's plan says that proposals are being developed in the areas of housing, child care and social assistance, the costs of which are not yet factored into the $1.4 billion initial price tag announced last week.

Last week told us where the floor is. Now we need to begin to look up at the ceiling of investments.  And the federal government must come to the table.

Today, we are laying down the gauntlet and saying to our federal government: Ontario needs you to come to the table. It’s time for our federal government to stop shadowboxing with the provinces.

The to-do list from the province to the federal government includes

• Double the working income tax benefit

• Increase the national child benefit by $1200

• Calling for a summit with the federal government on employment insurance reform

• Partnerships on early learning, child care affordable housing and aboriginal issues

Ontario’s fight for a better deal, to correct our province’s fiscal imbalance with Ottawa, just took on a whole new meaning – because we have hundreds of thousands of lives on the line here. Our federal government needs to understand that the commitment to reduce poverty in Ontario is a commitment to our people, and to our economy.

TEST #4: Legislation and Accountability

The key to delivering a multi-year plan is to build in regular follow-up and accountability processes that sustain the plan from one year to the next.

Today’s plan takes many steps that are a critical foundation of accountability for moving forward:

• Legislation to bring the plan into law.

• A continued role for the Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction supported by a Poverty Reduction Secretariat that brings all ministries together to drive implementation and track progress.

• Annual public reporting on progress to date and continuing public consultation as the plan unfolds.

• A role for people living in low income, grassroots leaders, and experts in ongoing consultations.

 TEST #5: A commitment to a down-payment on poverty reduction in the 2009 budget

Specific investments in key policy areas are the only way to ensure that the 25 in 5 target will be met.

We now have assurances that poverty reduction will be a central feature in the next five provincial budgets. And we will be holding our government’s feet to the fire at each and every turn.

But we also need investments now and today’s plan does not tell us what the first step will be. What we have today is a commitment to a floor of investments that we expect to continue to grow as we make progress on affordable housing, child care and social assistance.

Infrastructure investments in affordable housing and child care will create jobs and provide the crucial services that low-income Ontarians need. Directly increasing incomes will create demand in the economy as low-income people spend that money in local businesses.

We cannot afford to wait. Immediate investments are the right thing to do to improve the lives of low-income Ontarians, and they form the cornerstone of the stimulus package needed to kickstart Ontario’s struggling economy.

Today’s focus on poverty reduction will become tomorrow’s headline about a strong economy.

Leading economists around the world, from Canada’s banks to th International Monetary Fund and the United Nations, agree that the best way to get the economy moving is to stimulate demand, and the best way to stimulate demand is to get money into the pockets of low-income populations through already-established programs and mechanisms.

The next chapter of this plan is to get to work on investments in the next budget. This will be the next test of the government’s resolve on its poverty reduction strategy.