2018 Community Living Ontario Pre-Budget Submission: Recommendations for the Developmental Services Sector

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1 2018 Community Living Ontario Pre-Budget Submission: Recommendations for the Developmental Services Sector Recommendations regarding the Support Needs of People and Families In August of 2016, Ontario s Ombudsman released Nowhere to Turn, his final report on his investigation into the crisis facing people who have an intellectual disability and their families with respect to access to government supports and services. The Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS), which has responsibility for the delivery of developmental services, undertook reforms to respond to the crisis. They included a three-year investment of $300 million in new supports and services in 2014 plus $72 million for salary enhancements for agency staff. Community Living Ontario appreciates the light that the Ombudsman s report has cast on issues involving people who have an intellectual disability and their families. We further acknowledge the efforts to date made by MCSS to begin to address the issues. Unfortunately, given the depth of the challenges that the sector faces, investments thus far have not been sufficient to turn around the crisis identified by the Ombudsman. Here are some examples of the difficulties we still face, according to figures provided to us by MCSS: Approximately 6,900 people were added to the Passport waitlist in , a key program for the funding of daily living supports. As of March 31, 2016, there were more than 14,800 people on the Passport waitlist; The developmental services residential service waitlist increased by approximately 1,300 people from March 2015 to March As of March 31, 2016, there were approximately 14,900 people on the residential service waitlist, roughly 9,700 of whom are ready to receive support today; and Of the 819 new residential spaces created from the 2014 funding between 2014 and 2016, two thirds of the services (535 spaces) went to young people transitioning from 1

2 already funded youth services rather than to people waiting in the community without support. An additional $130 million in funding for developmental services was included in the 2017/18 budget in response to the ever-increasing waitlists. The targets for that investment were even more modest than the 2014 funding commitment. While we have not seen the data related to the outcomes of the 2017 funding, it is anticipated that the levels of unmet need in the sector have continued to grow. The incremental and arbitrary funding increase strategy that has been used by the government in recent years is not working. The approach is leaving many people without the support they need and with no way of knowing when, if ever, their needs will be addressed. People and families are suffering unnecessarily, as a result of the current funding approach. The government is facing what must, at times, seem like a black hole, where there appears to be no limit to the amount of funding required to address the issues at hand. We call on the government to work with families and service providers in the sector to develop a long-term sustainable plan that is necessary to meet the overwhelming needs of people on waitlists for services and supports. Further, the government must commit to annualized funding on a long-term basis to address the ever-increasing waitlists and index funds to protect against increases in costs over time. Retaining Support at Age 18 Special Services at Home (SSAH) provides respite and other supports to children living at home and to adults living with their family or alone. In 2006, the Ministry established the Passport program to support adults in activities of daily living. In 2012, the Ministry announced that it would be eliminating SSAH for adults and that Passport would be the single program through which adults could receive direct funding for daily living supports. When a recipient of SSAH reaches 18, he or she has to reapply for funding under the Passport program. Given the huge waitlist for the Passport program most recipients lose their funding with no indication of when, if ever, they will regain some form of support. This change is hugely 2

3 destabilizing. The end of school and entrance into adult life can be a frightening time for people and their families. When it is accompanied by a cut to services one has come to depend on, the impact can be profound. Some families have said that it is like dropping off a cliff and the shock and crisis that can result is devastating for all concerned. We ask that the government create a bridge between SSAH and Passport funding through which a person is guaranteed a smooth transition of services as he or she reaches reaches age 18 and is then assured the level of support they need. Addressing Poverty Faced by People who have an Intellectual Disability ODSP Changes Community Living Ontario continues to call on the government to address the persistent levels of poverty experienced by people that rely on ODSP income supports. We appreciate that benefits were increased by two per cent in the 2017 Budget so that financial assistance was not further diminished as a result of increases to the costs of living. We also acknowledge the positive impact of the additional increase in benefits to help address the unique challenges of people living in northern and remote communities. It is time to move beyond incremental increases that merely keep pace with the cost of living. Such investments do nothing to reduce the long-standing poverty that many experience. We are anxious to see the results of the Basic Income Pilot Project that the government is currently conducting and hope that this initiative will point to future improvements in income support policy and funding. In the meantime, those living in poverty today require greater support. We ask that the upcoming budget provide an increase to ODSP income supports that goes well beyond the current cost of living rate increase, so that we can begin to close the poverty gap experienced by recipients. ODSP Limits on Gifts, Assets and Earnings We thank the government for the progress made in the 2017 Budget to modernize the way that gifts and assets are handled under ODSP. 3

4 The government increased limits on cash and other liquid assets for people receiving ODSP from $5,000 to $40,000 ($50,000 for families) while income exemptions for cash gifts where increased from $6,000 up to $10,000 per year. Community Living Ontario welcomes these changes but wishes that the government had gone further to align ODSP benefits with those paid by other provinces that have modernized the assets and gift limits. In our recommendations for the Ontario Budget in both 2016 and 2017, Community Living Ontario called on the government to amend ODSP regulations to: Remove the $6,000 limit on voluntary gifts and payments completely; and Increase the prescribed asset limit to $100,000 for a single recipient and $200,000 if there is a spouse in the benefit unit. We note that there is no limit on payments made from a recipient s Registered Disability Savings Plan. The Ministry of Community and Social Services made a decision in 2008 to allow recipients to access unlimited funds from their RDSP account, in order to enhance their quality of life. Voluntary gifts and payments from family members, friends and trusts would serve substantially the same purpose; the difference being that RDSP payments cannot typically be accessed until much later in the person s life, whereas payments from supporters and trusts can be accessed at any time. We further note that in 2015, the Government of British Columbia announced an increase to the asset limit from $5,000 to $100,000 ($200,000 for a couple) and completely removed the limit on voluntary gifts and payments. Asset limits of $100,000 were established in Alberta several years ago. Additionally, we recommend that Ontario makes changes to the ODSP Income Support system with respect to the impact of employment wages on ODSP income support. At present, a person can earn up to $200 a month in wages without having their ODSP income support reduced. If the person has earnings of more than $200 a month, income supports are reduced by half the amount of earnings from wages beyond $200. For many people, this reduction of income support represents a disincentive to seek employment that would result in wages of 4

5 more than $200 per month. The result is a continuing reliance on higher levels of ODSP income support that might not have been the case otherwise. A further result is a perpetuation of poverty for those affected. Under current regulations, an individual on ODSP living on his or her own, earning $800 per month in employment income, would keep the first $200, and then have $300 clawed back from the remaining $600. When combined with income support, their total income would be a little over $16,000 per year, which is still about 18% below the poverty line. We believe a person should be able to get well above the poverty line before income supports begin to be clawed back. Again, we note that British Columbia is far ahead of Ontario with respect to its policy. As of October of 2017, disability income support earning exemptions in that province increased to $12,000 annually (average of $1,000/month) for an individual and $24,000 for a family. It is time for Ontario to finish the job of modernizing how it handles gifts, assets and income limits under ODSP, aligning with levels that have already been established in other provinces. Specifically, we call on the government to eliminate limits on voluntary gifts and payments; increase asset levels to $100,000 for people and, if there is a spouse, raise the level to $200,000; and, increase earning exemptions to an average of $1,000 per month for an individual and $2,000 per month for a family. Investments in Community Agencies In our 2017 Ontario Budget submission, Community Living Ontario joined our partners in the Provincial Network on Developmental Services in recommending that investments be made in the operating budgets of community agencies in the developmental services sector. While new funding was provided to address service waitlists, nothing was allocated to address operational pressures. In fact, until the December 2017 announcement of funding for the sector to address costs related to the implementation of Bill 148, it had been close to a decade since developmental services-funded agencies had received any new funding to address operational pressures other than some modest increases for staff wages. In that time, costs for things such 5

6 as WSIB, pay equity, quality assurance compliance measures and so forth have continued to increase dramatically. Further, agencies have been burdened with costs for service reform such as the costs related to closing sheltered workshops and developing alternatives for everyone affected. Throughout this period, MCSS has insisted that agencies continue to provide support to the same number of people; a directive that has led the Ministry to declare that there has been no diminishment in supports. It is only logical to conclude that given significant reductions in service capacity, the supports to people has, out of necessity, decreased. Agencies report significant reductions in their capacity to support people to the extent they used to. While basic living supports continue to be provided to people, the capacity to assist people to participate in community activities is being increasingly compromised. Without significant new investments, agency capacity will continue to decline and will soon put at risk even the basic living supports that people rely on. We appreciate that the government recently committed to providing funding to help agencies implement the changes related to Bill 148, but these funds are only responsive to the new changes mandated by the government. They do not begin to address the long-term erosion and instability created by multiple years of no base funding to the developmental services sector. Pay equity and the gender wage gap continue to be some of the key operational pressures that are seriously destabilizing many community agencies, particularly those who have had to utilize the proxy comparison method. It is important that the government funds pay equity agreements to enable agencies to attract and maintain professional, experienced staff. The Final Report of the Gender Wage Gap Strategy Steering Committee provides a fresh opportunity to consider solutions that will address the issues we have raised. In particular, Part 2 of the paper that looks at valuing work points to some solutions that would likely prove very helpful to our sector, including recommendations six through eight: 6. The government should address barriers to compliance and support employers in ongoing obligations by amending the Pay Equity Act; 6

7 7. The government should assess the state of proxy pay equity and examine ways to coordinate achievement of pay equity with wage enhancement programs in the Broader Public Sector; and 8. The government should consult with relevant workplace parties on how to value work in female-dominant sectors using pay equity or other means. We join with other organizations in the developmental services sector in asking that the government immediately invest $300 million on an annualized basis to stabilize the foundation of existing services. This funding will enable agencies to cover the inflationary pressures that have built up over the past nine years of no base funding and to address the impacts of the unfunded liability of the Pay Equity Act. Further, we encourage the Government of Ontario to immediately enact recommendations 6, 7 and 8 of the Gender Wage Gap Steering Committee s Final Report. Once these changes are in place, the government must also commit to funding pay equity adjustments to completion. This will prevent the loss of 3,600 full-time positions and mitigate risk of impact to services for people who have an intellectual or developmental disability and their families. Additionally, the Government of Ontario must continue its work to fund the related changes that Bill 148 has created for the broader public service sector. And, finally, funding to agencies as well as funding made available to people and families through Passport and SSAH should be indexed to the cost of living to avoid an erosion of capacity to provide supports over time. Conclusion Community Living Ontario thanks the government for this opportunity to provide our input into the 2018 pre-budget process. We look forward to the implementation of the changes we have 7

8 suggested as a means of ensuring that people who have an intellectual disability continue to receive the support they need to live full and meaningful lives in community. In summary, we ask that government: Develop a long-term sustainable plan to address waitlists for developmental services and supports, and commit to annualized and indexed funding on a long-term basis to address the ever-increasing waitlists; Create a bridge between SSAH and Passport funding through which a person is guaranteed a smooth transition of services as they reach age 18; Provide an increase to ODSP income supports that goes well beyond the current cost of living rate increase; Finish the job of modernizing how the government handles limits on gifts, assets and earnings under ODSP, aligning with levels that have already been established in other provinces; Immediately invest $300 million on an annualized basis to stabilize the foundation of existing services and supports provided by community agencies; Immediately enact recommendations 6, 7 and 8 of the Gender Wage Gap Steering Committee s Final Report and commit to funding pay equity adjustments to completion; Continue working towards funding the related changes that Bill 148 has created on the broader public service sector; and Index funding provided to people, families and community agencies to avoid erosion of the capacity to provide supports over time. For more information, contact Chris Beesley, CEO, Community Living Ontario: Phone: , ext. 227 (Toll free ) chris@communitylivingontario.ca 8