Sudbury senior on disability struggles to keep up with inflation

After he pays for his rent and basic necessities, Sudbury's James White says he doesn't have any money left over.

White is on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and receives about $1,400 per month to cover all of his expenses. 

"You always think, 'Oh, man, payday, I'm going to go get a burger.' Can't afford to," he said. "Hey, you know, I've got to eat at home and I end up eating garbage."

White said it's been especially difficult to keep up as inflation has raised the price of just about everything, and especially healthier foods.

He said increases to ODSP over the years have not been sufficient to help him pay for the basics.

"When the government has an election they boost disability and welfare up by half a per cent or one per cent," White said. "Well one per cent of $1,000, figure it out, it's only $10."

In July he will turn 65 and won't qualify for ODSP anymore. Instead, he should start receiving federal income support from Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement. Together, both programs top up at about $1,600 per month.

But White said he hasn't heard much about both programs.

"I don't know what happens when I turn 65," he said.

"I know I get cut off from ODSP. They sent me a letter saying so. But I haven't heard anything more for somebody that is turning 65... And it's getting pretty close to the wire."

A difficult transition

Madeleine Hébert is a staff lawyer with a program called Advocacy North for Elders and Seniors, which provides legal advice and representation to low-income seniors across northern Ontario.

She said it's not unusual for people in White's situation to struggle with the transition from ODSP to the federal programs.

"That's why I try to do as much public legal education, but I usually catch my seniors after they're on the program," Hébert said.

She added people on ODSP have a case worker who can advocate for them, but once they turn 65 they just receive their cheques in the mail without that support.

Hébert said seniors on Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement are normally renters and often can't afford to live in a retirement home, which can start at $2,000 per month. If they can stay healthy they keep renting, or they eventually end up in long-term care.

Many seniors doing OK

While White has struggled to make ends meet, many other seniors have fared much better, even with rising costs.

John Lindsay chairs the Sudbury chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP), and said many of his members have made adjustments in their spending habits, but have weathered the storm of inflation quite well.

"Now, there are seniors that are quite well off, and probably this does not affect them, those that have been saving for their entire lives," Lindsay said.

"The ones that we're really concerned about, of course, are seniors who are relatively I wouldn't say poor, but are financially stressed. And those are the ones that probably are relying primarily on Old Age Security or CPP, the Canada Pension Plan, maybe the Guaranteed Income Supplement."

Of CARP's 1,700 members in Sudbury, Lindsay said about 80 per cent would fall in the group that aren't too concerned about their finances, even with rising inflation.

"But you can't forget the other end of the spectrum, the young people who are experiencing that same difficulty finding affordable housing, being able to keep nutritious meals on the table, maybe being able to afford some transportation instead of trying to buy an old clunker that needs a lot of repairs," Lindsay added.

Paul Kershaw, a professor in the School of Population Health at the University of British Columbia, has dedicated his career to raising more awareness about the wealth gap between generations in Canada.

Kershaw said there are seniors who depend on social assistance programs to get by. But as a whole, older people in Canada are better off than younger generations.

"No matter how Statistics Canada measures poverty, seniors have the lowest rates of low income of any age group in the country," he said.

Kershaw said seniors' salaries, when adjusted for inflation, were higher on average than those of millennials today, and they also needed less education to get those jobs, which meant less debt.

But their biggest advantage, he said, was to buy into the housing market when prices were much lower. 

"The stats we use in our recent publication commenting on housing shows that since baby boomers came of age in Ontario as young adults there's an extra $1 trillion, with a 'T', of wealth in principal residences," he said.

Kershaw said three quarters of seniors in Ontario are homeowners and have benefited from that economic windfall.  

And because they vote in larger numbers than young people, government policies and promises benefit them the most, Kershaw added.

Campaign promises for seniors

While a lot of the financial assistance low-income seniors receive comes from the federal government, all major parties in the Ontario election have made promises about seniors.

The Ontario Liberals have said they would add up to $1,000 more per year to the amount pensioners receive from Ontario's Guaranteed Annual Income System.

In the 2022 budget, the Progressive Conservatives proposed a new tax credit that would help seniors with their medical expenses. Eligible recipients would receive up to 25 per cent of their claimable medical expenses up to $6,000, for a maximum credit of $1,500.

The NDP has promised to invest an additional $1 billion in home care, and to phase out for-profit long-term care home operators over the next eight years.

The Green Party has also promised to phase out for-profit long-term care homes and to increase funding to the sector by 10 per cent.