Like she does every month around this time, Dianne Poulin ran out of food this week.
The 62-year-old was forced to go to one of the city's food banks. They gave her staples such as oatmeal, cereal and canned goods. But the bread she received had mould on it, and Poulin had to throw it out.
Such is the lot of someone living on the $1,075 a month provided by the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
After she pays her rent and other necessities, Poulin, who uses an electric wheelchair as a result of disabilities incurred because she had polio and scoliosis as a child, only has about $60 left each month to buy food.
In another year, I'll have to look for another place. I might end up on the street again.
Dianne Poulin,
lives on ODSP
Besides frequenting food banks, Poulin goes to the Elgin Street Mission twice a week, where she eats a filling supper.
“It's a place to eat,” she said. “You meet different people. There's some who are worse off than I am.”
There she volunteers her time, helping young people who have found themselves on the streets. It's a situation she experienced herself more than 20 years ago, when she was homeless for two months when she couldn't find an affordable apartment.
Although she's made some good friends in the people who run the mission, Poulin said she'd prefer it if the province provided her with enough money to purchase healthy food and cook it for herself at home.
“If they give us a little bit higher, we could buy some food or get a phone or things we need,” she said.
“They should give us a little bit more. You've just got to know how to budget, because if you don't budget, you can't make ends meet from month to month.”
But Poulin won't be receiving much help from the province this year.
In the recent provincial budget, social assistance rates were increased by one per cent.
The budget also included measures to allow people on social assistance who have jobs to keep the first $200 they earn before the money is clawed back.
But the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty said in a press release this isn't enough. They had been calling on the province to immediately increase social assistance rates by 55 per cent.
Dianne Poulin, seen here in her South End-area apartment, said it's difficult to makes ends meet while living on an Ontario Disability Support Program pension. Photo by Marg Seregelyi.
“They brag about having increased Ontario Works and ODSP rates by 15 per cent since 2003 – that is actually them admitting to cutting welfare rates by approximately 10 per cent when inflation (average 2.5 per cent per year) is taken into account,” the press release said.
“Surely, this budget must remove the last possible illusions about where the Liberals and 'social justice' Wynne stand. Only if we challenge their real agenda of austerity and poverty can we defend our communities from the cutbacks they are preparing.”
Poulin's situation is exacerbated by the fact that she's living in a South End-area bachelor apartment that's really too expensive for her.
She pays $792 a month, plus utilities, for the apartment. ODSP recipients are only supposed to spend $474 a month on shelter costs. But Poulin said it's impossible to find a wheelchair-accessible apartment for that amount.
“With the rent going up, I can't afford to live here,” she said. “In another year, I'll have to look for another place. I might end up on the street again.”
She'd like to move into a Greater Sudbury Housing apartment, but still owes the corporation about $300 from when she previously lived in one of their units.
“I'm not considered on the waiting list right now,” Poulin said. “I'm trying to get somebody to help me to pay whatever they say I owe.”
Despite the premium price she's paying, her home really isn't all that accessible. She uses a broom to open the cupboards, which are out of her reach, and had to rig up a board so she can easily get in and out of her apartment.
Poulin also has other fixed monthly costs such as her bus pass and laundry, as well as maintenance for her electric wheelchair. She wears clothes that are donated to the Elgin Street Mission.
She said she does have family, including two adult sons, but they live far away from Sudbury and can't help her out much.
