Disabled people in Sudbury say benefits fall short as parties promise to increase them

By the time Sandy Stretch finishes paying for all her basic necessities, she says she has no money left at the end of the month.

Stretch, who lives in Sudbury, Ont., has multiple sclerosis and is no longer able to work as a bookkeeper. 

Due to her disability, she relies on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and says she now takes in about a quarter of what she did when she was working full-time. 

"You can't go out and do things, like you can't even partake in social things because there's no money to do that," she said.

"There's no money to go places and, you know, even entertain. Even to have people over and have a nice dinner or anything like that, which makes you very cut off from society."

According to Ontario's auditor general more than 500,000 people in the province rely on ODSP.

Since the most recent 4.5 per cent increase in July 2024, to keep up with inflation, ODSP has topped out at $1,368 a month to cover basic needs and shelter.

People with special dietary needs can receive up to $250 in additional monthly income to cover the extra costs of items such as gluten free foods.

There are also funds available to help cover the costs of some medical supplies and public transportation to medical appointments.

A complicated issue

Charles Tossell says ODSP benefit rates are nowhere near high enough to cover the basic needs for people who rely on the program.

Tossell relies on ODSP and says $1,368 a month barely covers average rent in the city.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, average rent in Sudbury in October 2024 was $1,356 a month. In Toronto, the average is $1,852 a month, or $484 more than the benefits for food and shelter combined.

The Green Party of Ontario, the Liberals and NDP have all promised to double ODSP benefits if they form the next government.

The Green Party says it would double ODSP rates immediately, at a cost of $7 billion in the first year. The Liberals would phase it in over two years. with a 50 per cent increase to benefits in the first year, and another 50 per cent in the year after that.

And the NDP says it would phase in a 20 per cent increase the first year, before doubling the benefits the year after, also at a cost of more than $7 billion annually.

The Progressive Conservatives say they would continue to increase ODSP rates with inflation every July.

Tossell volunteers for the NDP in Sudbury, but he says even doubling the rates wouldn't go far enough.

"I'd say take it up a notch and go to the median income averaged out," he said.

Tossell says it's cheaper to increase ODSP rates than to pay for the consequences of poverty, which include more crime and hospital visits.

Nadine Law of Sudbury relies on ODSP to supplement her income working part-time as the regional co-ordinator for Spinal Cord Injury Ontario.

Law broke her back in 2019 and has a number of autoimmune diseases that forced her to stop working full-time. 

Working three days a week, she says her income is $2,200 a month. She gets an additional $750 each month from her ODSP benefits.

If a person receiving ODSP makes more than $1,000 a month, their benefits are reduced by 75 per cent for every dollar they make after that threshold. 

If Law made only $1,000 a month she would get the full ODSP benefit, which would bring her to $2,368 in monthly income, as opposed to the $2,950 she currently receives between her work and benefits.

"There's really not a lot of benefit for myself to be working, except for my mental health," she said.

"What I do is really important because I know I make a difference in people's lives and my community work, so I need to continue working. That's very important to me. So I do it three days a week and give back to my community with volunteering and whatnot."

Law says improving ODSP is more complicated than simply increasing the benefits. 

Better coverage for certain medications, she says, would go a long way to supporting disabled people and making them less reliant on the benefits.

She says she is also skeptical that the Liberals, NDP and Green Party would follow through on their promises to double ODSP benefits if they were able to form government.

"They certainly have good intentions, but it's giving a lot of people false hope. And because the reality is it's not going to happen," she said.

"It doesn't matter what party gets in. I don't see this changing."