Priority groups include senior citizens and domestic violence survivors
The Canada-Ontario housing benefit (COHB) program is to provide $3 million in assistance to over 400 households in Ottawa during its third year in 2022, according to a new report.
Ottawa City Council will hear about that next phase of the plan, which is a provincially administered portable housing benefit program (PHB) established in 2019 as part of the National Housing Strategy, in a committee meeting this Thursday (April 21), according to CityNews.
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A monthly subsidy of $614 will be given to priority groups like domestic violence survivors, senior citizens, people with disabilities and more to help shoulder rising house costs.
“The PHB is also portable anywhere in Ontario if households choose to move later on, which provides the household with far more flexibility as their circumstances evolve,” the report to be presented on Thursday said.
“This is not the case for Rent-Geared-to-Income units, as the subsidy is attached to the unit rather than the individual, and therefore the family will lose access to their subsidy should they need to leave the unit for any reason.”
The program’s first two years allocated $1.8 million in 2021 and $2.48 million in 2022 to Ottawa, benefitting mostly single women, Indigenous women and female-led households with children. Families at risk of homelessness are also considered a priority group.
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With the City recognizing that the demand will exceed budgeted allocations, eligible households will be selected based on the date of their application to the Centralized Wait List, with the earliest on the list receiving the benefits first.
