Good morning, and thank you to the chair and the members of the committee for the opportunity to present to you today.
My comments and observations about the effects of poverty on people with mental health histories are based on my personal and professional experience.
Lack of adequate income is a predominantly isolating experience for many people with severe mental health histories. Too often, debilitation due to symptoms and/or treatment is exacerbated by poverty, so much so that what is thought of as an invisible disability is all too apparent due to the obvious and discernible effect of being extremely poor.
I've experienced three generations of mental health trauma in my life. My mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 22 and was treated until she died at the age of 67. My 50-year-old brother has struggled most of his life without a diagnosis or treatment and is currently living in poverty on the street. My son had a first episode prior to starting university, went on to complete a degree, and is now living independently and working.
As the executive director of PARC since 1999, I've seen first-hand the effects of poverty on many hundreds of adults with mental health histories. PARC is a community-based mental health agency that provides supportive housing, individualized support, also known as intensive case management, employment support, and social recreational activities that reduce isolation. I've also seen the remarkable effect of recovering from lifelong trauma, stigma, and discrimination through meaningful activity, social connection, employment, and most fundamentally, safe, supportive housing.
When I arrived in 1999, PARC employed about 15 full-time equivalent positions, four being people with lived experience. Today PARC employs almost 100 people, with more than two-thirds being people with lived experience.
There are two distinct paths for individuals with mental health histories: affordably and safely housed, or not. As Canadians, I believe we want people to recover, live meaningful lives, and participate in society and the economy. We have legislation that enshrines accommodating people with disabilities, yet as my colleague Lana Frado, the executive director of Sound Times support services, queries, “What does the ramp for mental health look like?” I suggest that the ramp restores hope and dignity for individuals with mental health histories.
The intersection of mental health disability and poverty has many nuances. Ontario has a social assistance system that provides income assistance with two clear activities: an allowance to cover the costs of living independently, and access to prescriptions to support independence. Within the income support is an allowance for shelter. The Ontario shelter allocation is $479, which in many municipalities is completely insufficient to secure safe, affordable housing. At PARC, all the people we support living in private-market housing are using 90% of their monthly income to pay for rent. Even then, a person late with a payment is often evicted and is then put at the mercy of an impossibly scarce private affordable housing market.
What about affordable or supportive housing? Currently the affordable housing wait-list is seven to 10 years. The wait-list for Toronto supportive housing is four to five years.
The fear or threat of becoming homeless creates a climate of feeling trapped in less-than-accommodating housing, from an accessibility perspective, due to the nature of private-market affordable housing, which may not be well maintained or safe. There are many hundreds of cases across the city where buildings have long backlogs for major repairs, including heating, elevators, water pressure, holes, and pests. At the same time, the limited choice of privately affordable rental housing means living somewhere that may not have easy access to services such as health care, food, recreation, and employment opportunities, which then means requiring money to purchase transit.
In Toronto, the cost of a monthly Metropass is $147, or $3 for a one-way trip. Of course, this presumes that you have enough income left to purchase transit after food, a telephone line, or a cell phone.
It is the correlation of these circumstances that causes harm and that fits quite clearly within the realm of the poverty gap experienced by individuals and families with mental health histories.
What's the answer? I know that the answer is a core and foundational commitment to affordable and supportive housing so that individuals can experience stability in their housing as a recovery point for further gains in social and economic opportunities.
I have a case in point. Terry arrived at PARC's doors in 1992, homeless and exhibiting signs of a major mental health crisis. He began attending our drop-in and engaging in social activities. A worker found him supportive housing. He started to volunteer at PARC. Subsequently, he applied for a training opportunity that provided compensation in the form of honoraria, which built his confidence and mitigated his poverty while reinforcing his skills. He then applied for a part-time employment posting, and then became a full-time, unionized employee. Last year he moved out of his small, affordable bachelor apartment into a large, private-market one-bedroom that provides him with room for his dog and cats.
A year ago the provincial Mental Health and Addictions Leadership Advisory Council set a minimum target of 30,000 units of supportive housing. Disability income frameworks must not enshrine the right to not have enough to live on.
Thank you very much.