Northern Light
Superstar
You're right. Our embarrassingly fragile-and-in-decline social service network needs a robust injection of cash at all levels of government.
Agreed, 100%
As I just noted in another thread; OW provides a miserable and miserly $733 per month for a single adult with no children. ODSP provides a bit over $1200.
Neither is enough to rent a room in Toronto, never mind a studio apartment; nor does it allow for actually eating, having a phone, or buying so much as a pair of socks. I would say it's comically low, but there's nothing funny about the impact of such stinginess.
Add to that the lack of proper mental healthcare that's easily and quickly accessible; and insufficient affordable housing; and it's easy to see why homelessness has almost tripled during the last decade.