Thank you very much, and thank you for having the hearings yesterday and today.
As the recession continues to develop, unemployment continues to rise, and people who were once considered middle class are finding themselves without work and threatened with homelessness. You will hear much testimony on the need to reform EI, to make it easier for people to qualify, and to extend its terms, etc. You will also hear about the conditions people face when they run out of EI and face the bleak prospect of relying on social assistance.
In Ontario, the number of single persons in the Ontario Works program in April 2009 was 130,180, the highest level in 11 years and 56% higher than in 2001. To qualify for social assistance, you must be destitute. A single parent must have no more then $1,550 in assets before they can become eligible for social assistance, which means they have to basically liquidate everything they own.
As people face financial ruin, they rely on the services of the not-for-profit sector to receive very basic services. Faced with either paying rent or feeding their children, more and more families are forced to use food banks and community kitchens. Across the country, food bank usage is rising. In Toronto, according to the latest figures I've received from Daily Bread Food Bank, usage is up 15% year over year and is growing. Credit counseling services are doing a record business. Foreclosures and eviction rates are going higher.
But hidden in these statistics and many others is the human cost of the recession. Families and individuals are under severe stress. Family violence is becoming more prevalent. Abuse of alcohol and drugs is on the upswing. Front-line community agencies are seeing a new type of homeless people—those who, until very recently, were employed and who find themselves displaced and confused, angry and dismayed. The demand for services in every front-line agency I have talked to is up substantially from last year.
The bad news is that at the same time, corporate sponsorship and donation levels are down, as companies cut back. Many events and fundraisers have been cancelled. Others are much less profitable than in previous years. Private donors are feeling insecure. Their investment portfolios are down, and they may have had to take pay cuts, and they may be worried about losing their jobs. They are not giving at the same level as they have in previous years. Foundations have taken major hits to their endowments. They are cutting back. Many large funders who are following through with long-standing funding commitments have said, don't expect anything in 2010.
I'm also the chair of Sketch, an agency that provides working arts to homeless and street-involved youth. As a board, we have had to plan for a potential 30% cut to funding and we have already had to cut expenses, which means cutting services to our participants by about $80,000. Unfortunately, we are not alone in having to prepare a survival budget. The irony is that the demands and needs for services have never been greater, and they keep growing.
In December, a group of agency heads, foundations, academics, and business people founded the Recession Relief Fund Coalition. Over 230 organizations and thousands of individuals signed a declaration to call on Ottawa to consider the needs of the front-line agencies in the budget process. I have given you a copy of the front page of the declaration with my remarks.
The need to make emergency funding available to the agencies that are feeding, clothing, sheltering, and counseling the victims of the recession is clear and pressing. Governments need to respond to the reality that demand is growing and non-government funding is falling. Even if the shovel-ready projects that Michael Shapcott was talking about begin, it's going to take several years to make any real impact on people requiring housing. In the meantime, individuals and families will be dependent on the front-line service providers for their survival. The agencies are the front line of the recession; they are where people who are desperate go for help.
Not to support the not-for-profits at this time will lead to far higher long-term costs in terms of policing, incarceration, health care, and social unrest.
Thank you.