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Receipt of public assistance

In housing, the Code protects tenants against discrimination based on receipt of public assistance. “Public assistance” – more commonly referred to as social assistance – includes Ontario Works, OSAP, ODSP, Old Age Security, Employment Insurance, etc.

Some housing providers have negative attitudes towards people who are poor. They may take several steps that could contravene the Code, such as:

  • screen out prospective tenants based on stereotypes about poverty and poor people
  • impose illegal rental criteria (such as security deposits)
  • provide substandard housing-related services
  • harass tenants
  • be more quick to try to evict.

Relevant policy:

  1. Ontario Human Rights Commission Submission regarding Interim Reports of the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario

    March 2012 - The OHRC will focus its comments on the issues and barriers identified in the CRSAO’s reports that connect to the OHRC’s current priority initiatives dealing with racism experienced by Aboriginal people and other groups as well as disability, especially mental health discrimination.

  2. Building human rights into municipal planning is aim of new OHRC guide

    February 17, 2012

    Kingston - Attorney General John Gerretsen today joined Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, to launch In the zone: Housing, human rights and municipal planning. The guide offers municipalities information about their legal obligations, and about the tools and best practices they can apply to connect human rights and housing when making zoning and planning decisions.

  3. 8. Socio-economic status, mental health and addictions

    From: Minds that matter: Report on the consultation on human rights, mental health and addictions

    Many individuals and organizations talked about people’s experiences with poverty. Poverty is a significant concern for people across Ontario with psychosocial disabilities. Unemployment, underemployment, discrimination and the lack of affordable housing for people with psychosocial disabilities were identified as major factors contributing to poverty.

  4. Letter to Minister Naqvi re: Support for Bill 164, Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2017

    October 24, 2017

    I am writing to express the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) support for Bill 164, which was introduced on October 4, 2017 in the Legislature. We understand that the Second Reading will take place on October 26. As I expressed in our meeting on October 2, it is the OHRC’s position that Bill 164 improves the Human Rights Code by including new grounds of protection for people under social condition, police records, genetic characteristics, and immigration status.

  5. Minimum income criteria

    From: Human Rights and rental housing in Ontario: Background paper

    Those seeking rental housing who are in receipt of public assistance, as well as other Code-identified individuals with low incomes, have been particularly affected by the application of minimum income criteria. Many landlords apply a standard guideline that a tenant applicant should be spending no more than 25-35 percent of his or her income on rent. Those who fall short of this ratio are rejected.

  6. OHRC submission regarding Ontario’s next Poverty Reduction Strategy

    April 30, 2020

    I am writing today on behalf of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) about the government’s consultation on Ontario’s next Poverty Reduction Strategy (Strategy). The OHRC calls on Ontario to take a human rights-based approach to poverty reduction by entrenching the types of economic and social responses to COVID-19 into permanent solutions that will once and for all protect the well-being of everyone in our province.

  7. OHRC letter to Sudbury landlords who refuse to rent housing to people on ODSP and Ontario Works without direct payment agreements

    July 6, 2020

    Given the vulnerability of tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic, the OHRC wants to remind the Greater Sudbury Landlord Association and the City of Greater Sudbury as a housing service manager and OW administrator, of their human rights obligations relating to rental housing.

  8. Letter to Kenora Mayor and City Council about the anti-loitering by-law being considered

    July 20, 2020

    The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is writing to express its concern about the anti-loitering by-law that is currently being considered by Kenora City Council. The OHRC urges Kenora City Council to reject this by-law, which will likely have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable and homeless people in Kenora, the large majority of whom are Indigenous peoples. Moreover, the by-law will not solve the homelessness crisis or other social issues facing Kenora.

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