Social Assistance

Children and their families make up 52% of the people receiving social assistance in Canada.

In Niagara (2006) children under 18 years make up 42% of the Ontario Works (OW) caseload and 32% of the ODSP caseload. The number of children relying on OW payments in Niagara was 2% higher than the provincial average. The number of children relying on ODSP was 12% more than Ontario’s average.

Table 27 Ontario Works and Ontario Disability support Program Caseloads

	OW Caseload		ODSP Caseload
	Niagara	Ontario	Niagara	Ontario
Singles	50%	53%	76%	77%
Sole support families	39%	36%	9%	8%
Couples with children	8%	8%	6%	6%
Couples without children	3%	3%	9%	9%
Total	100%	100%	100%	100%
Applicants	50%	52%		63%
Dependant children under 18	42%	40%	32%	20%
Spouses	6%	8%		14%
Dependant Adults	2%		2%	3%
Total	100%	100%		100%

Source: Niagara Community Services Department, 2006 cited in the Niagara Poverty Report
http://www.regional.niagara.on.ca/living/saeo/reports/pdf/PovertyReport.pdf

In Niagara, there are 6,582 (1 or more persons per case) cases receiving Ontario Works (OW) assistance and 9,608 people receiving support from the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). The majority of people on OW and ODSP in Niagara are single adults (approximately 50% OW and 76% ODSP). According to Niagara statistics, 39% of the OW caseload is made up of sole support parents and 9% of the ODSP caseload is sole support parents.

In 2008, a total of 15,500 individuals are on Ontario Works in Niagara, of which one half are children (7,750) and one half of those are between 0 and 6 years of age (3,875) (Niagara Region community Services, 2008).
Source: Niagara Community Services Department, 2008

This graph shows the number of cases receiving social assistance in each Ontario municipality per 100,000 households. In 2005, the monthly caseload was 3,996 per 100,000 households, below the Ontario median of 4, 136 .

Figure 30

Source: http://www.ombi.ca/index.asp