Richard Matern, research director of the Daily Bread Food Bank, where new provincial social policies have been credited for a reduction in users in the first three months of the year. People who rely on social assistance — Ontario Works (OW) or Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) — represented 64 per cent of food-bank users in 2017. In the first three months of this year, there was an 11-per-cent decrease among OW recipients and a 7.2-per-cent dip in food-bank visits from people living on ODSP, according to the report. January’s minimum wage increase and introduction of automatic enrolment for the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors may have reduced food-bank visits among these groups, the report says. An increase in liquid assets in early 2018 for people on social assistance to $10,000 from $2,500 for OW and to $40,000 from $5,000 for ODSP.

Source: thestar May 24, 2018 09:22 UTC